The princess and the devil hunter
by Infinitystarx
Summary: a rewrite for my female devil hunter story, with more on Kayla's background story.
1. beginning

Demons. The very definition of evil and darkness. Even though I would call myself one of them, I've never really gotten along with my own kind. I always had a soft spot for human kind. No not a soft spot but I could deal with them better than demons. This city has always been full of demons, of one kind or another. But they have mostly coexisted with humans, not peacefully but still coexisted. The war between humans and demons that should have been, always took a back seat to my own personal battle. I was born, from a demon and human's unholy union. Being born a half breed wasn't all bad, but it was mostly bad. I still felt the same emotions as a human, which made me irrational and unpredictable. It also made it harder for me to keep my temper controlled. For me losing my temper could mean someone dying, my demon powers lie just underneath the surface so it's hard for me to control it, especially when I get angry.

My life has been longer than expected, and over the years I have learned a lot about humans and the demons who hunt them. I was born in the city of Rayar, to the king and queen, making me the princess well me and my twin that is. My twin sister Katherine although slightly older than me was always the weaker one of the two of us. I grew up with her and we lived a quite peaceful life, until my mother died when we we're 15, after that my father looked after us however when we reached 17 my father was forced to go and fight in the war between Rayar and Caldera. But he never returned, he was killed in battle, it broke my heart when my father died, I had always been closer to my father more than my mother. After my father died my sister was appointed queen, she deserved it, and I didn't feel the least bit jealous of her. She was always the one to be kind toward others she was a great leader and a wonderfully beautiful person both inside and out, I stayed in the palace with her until one night when the city of Caldera decided that killing our king wasn't enough for them, they wanted the city destroyed. Our city has always been feared by the two cities flanking us, Caldera and Aria because of our immense power, our armies might was unparalleled and our leader unmovable. However when our king died that power died with him, with no leader the army disbanded and my sister, who trusted everyone more than she should didn't see a need for another one. However this led to Caldera thinking they could defeat us, but they didn't know about my power.

That night, as the city panicked around me, I stood alone at the main gates waiting for the enemy. In my hand I held my katana, its black hilt wrapped with red ribbon which hung down to the blade. A truly beautiful weapon indeed. Outside the gate I heard the enemy shouting and battering the wooden gates for entry, and still I waited. The gate finally gave in to their brutality and allowed them entrance into my city, however when they entered they stopped, confused and surprised to see a young girl standing there. I was about 18 at the time, but I had seen more battle than most of the men before me could have imagined. They stood staring at me waiting for an explanation but I gave none. At that moment when the army regained their senses and attacked, I became closed off to every emotion, I left only my desire for victory. Unburdened by human emotion I was free to destroy the army before me and grant my city victory. I closed my eyes and held my sword above my head. A light so bright, the sun itself paled in comparison radiated from my blade, as I spoke slowly under my breath.

"Infinity gate, release your chains and open, blind these fools with your power and grant me victory" as the last word fell from my lips I felt my strength return and I swung my blade downwards. The shockwave that was sent toward the army killed all of the five hundred men before me. And not just men, without my cities army they were the strongest army in the country of Ariyai. But before my blade they all fell, however the happiness of victory only lasted a few seconds. And as the infinity gate closed and it began to rain, the weight of what I had done made me collapse to my knees, gripping the hilt of my sword, its blade stuck in the muddy ground below me.

Demon. That's the name I was given after that, even though I had saved the city from almost certain destruction. They didn't trust me or my power, my twin was the only who trusted me anymore and even she was becoming more and more distant as the days wore on. I could no longer leave the confines of the palace, for most people wanted me dead, they said I was dangerous. They turned on their savior, but they had no idea what that did to me. I became emotionless; I didn't trust anyone but myself. And I had no way of letting go I couldn't forgive myself for what I had done but I also couldn't forgive the city for turning its back on me. As the years went by and I grew up my hate for the city also grew, hating the city and its people for abandoning me wasn't so bad, but I began to also hate my twin sister. She had no idea of the hate I harbored for her, and she didn't let my angry outbursts stop her from trying to help me. The truth is I didn't hate her I hated the fact that she had sided with the city when I asked her why they hated and feared me.

"They are scared, they can't be blamed for the way they are. After what you did, I too fear your power. But I do not fear you dear sister"

That had confirmed it for me she was scared of my power, which meant she also feared me. And that's when I started to hate what she stood for. And one day, that hatred came out in the form of my blade. My sister had been in the throne room all day, she had been greeted new comers to the city and doing everything she could to keep the city a peaceful place. And that's where I challenged her.

"Dear sister, I have a question for you. Why is it that you side with them over me?" I shouted at her, the guards around us quickly came between us and held me back.

"Release her" my sister commanded.

"I do not side with anyone sister, I merely try to help" she stood from her throne and laid her hand on my shoulder.

"Why do you hate me?" I asked her, gripping my blade.

"I do not" I shook my head.

"You do, I can see it" I argued, anger rising in my voice.

"Be careful sister, you know what losing your temper can do"

"And you'd know all about that wouldn't you!" I yelled back, she had no idea how painful it was keeping this monster at bay all the time.

"No more" I said finally.

"I can't do it anymore, I won't be betrayed" at this I raised my sword, and swung it down, my sisters fearful eyes reflected my own hatred and pain.

"My lady!" Christian. The man who loved my sister dearly, but had no idea how I wanted with everything I had for him to love me. His voice carried across the huge hallway and reached my ears, bringing me back from my blind fury.

"Sister" I said, falling to my knees.

"How could you, she's your sister, she loves you" Christian looked at me and the hatred in his eyes, froze me. He drew his pistol, as my sister lay dying on the cold floor, and stood above me.

"You should die for your crimes against her" he said, resting the pistol against my forehead, I closed my eyes.

"I know" I said, giving in completely.

"I love you" I whispered as he pulled the trigger, and I fell to the ground, lifeless. The last thing I heard was my sister screaming and Christian trying to calm her down.

After that my sister, recovered from her injuries remarkably fast, and she set about learning black magic in an attempt to find a way to revive me, it took her ten years but she finally came across a spell that would allow her to save me but it would require her to become a demon. The love of her life Christian obviously wouldn't allow her to do it. But she insisted that it would all work out in the end. It was that sense of optimism that ultimately became her undoing. She agreed to the terms and performed the spell, becoming a demon in the process. Christian although afraid stayed by her side, but he never forgot the last words I had said to him. And the question as to whether I really did love him haunted him, even though he loved my sister with all his heart.

Darkness. The only thing I saw, but it only lasted a few minutes. As it cleared I remembered the gun, the hatred in Christian's eyes, my sister screaming. I realized I was hearing their voices, and thought it must be an echoed of life. But it didn't fade; it got louder and louder as my consciousness returned.

"Sister, sister" my twin's voice echoed through me, and I realized I wasn't remembering anymore, I was actually hearing her voice. I tried to open my eyes but they wouldn't obey me.

"It's going to be hard for her to control this body" I heard another familiar voice but I couldn't place it.

"I know, but she has to wake up soon" my twin said.

"Doctor, open the infinity gate" my twin commanded, it was impossible I thought. Only I was able to open and close the gate.

"I'll contain her, just open it" my sister said. I tried again to open my eyes and ask her what she meant but they still wouldn't obey me. Al I could see was a sea of white, pure white nothing more. Until the gate appeared before me, it was the same as always, at least four storey's tall, pure black and covered in chains. I stood on one side of it and my demon side on the other. I stared into the darkness, listening to the haunting but beautiful voice that echoed from my other self. Suddenly the gate opened and I was face to face with my demon self, she grinned at me, her crimson eyes staring into my green eyes.

"You need my power" she said.

"I do, but I'm scared" I replied, she tilted her head.

"What's scared?" she asked.

"I forgot you don't any emotion other than hatred and blood lust" I said, taking her hand and letting her take over me.

"Did it work?" my twin asked the unknown doctor. My eyes flicked open and I stared up into my sisters green eyes with my crimson ones.

"Welcome back, Lady Kayla" the doctor said politely but I ignored him.

"Sister" I said.

"Its ok you can close the gate now" she said, struggling to keep the barrier she had created over me.

"Why would I do that?" I asked, sitting up the barrier around me collapsed and I was set free.

"Finally, you're not very good at that are you?" I said, walking towards her.

"Kayla, stop" Christian's voice hit me again and the gate swung closed leaving me human again, I collapsed to my knees, without my demonic power I was weaker than I had ever been.

"Careful" the doctor said, as he caught me and lead me over to the hospital bed I had been on.

"Christian" I whispered.

"What you did was terrible, however your sister has spent the last ten years saving you, you should be grateful" I gasped, turning to face her.

"Ten years?" I asked, she nodded smiling at me.

"Leave us please" my sister said.

"But my lady" Christian started.

"It'll be ok" my twin answered before he could finish his sentence, he sighed and left the room with the others leaving me and my twin alone.

"Is it ok for us to alone, I did try to kill you" I said, feeling too much guilt for me to handle.

"Yes" she answered, sitting next to me.

"I forgave you years ago" she said.

"But you haven't forgiven yourself have you" she continued, I shook my head.

"What do you want for it to be alright again" she asked.

"Hate me, or if you can't at least punish me for my crimes"

"You already died once what more can I do" I shook my head.

"That was Christians revenge I want you to do it" I said. She thought a moment before standing again and leaving the room.

"Ok" she said, returning with Christians gun in her hand, Christian was close behind her looking confused.

"You want punishment?" she asked, I nodded prepared for what would happen.

"Ok" she leant the pistol against my head the same way Christian had.

"You have been punished" she said. Smiling at me.

"But I..."

"Not forgiving yourself and living with that torment is enough punishment for you" she said. Behind her Christian stared at me, a confusing look on his face. It was somewhere between anger and sadness.

"Now rest" my sister commanded.

"Thank you, Katherine" I said as she left the room. I lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, I hadn't even noticed that Christian was still in the room, watching me.

"Your last words" he said, slowly approaching me, I sat back up staring into his beautiful blue eyes.

"You said, _I love you_" he continued, I nodded.

"You where talking to your sister weren't you?" he asked, cautiously, I shook my head.

"No. I love you" I said, looking at him. He stepped back slightly.

"Don't worry, I know you love my sister and I respect that. I just…well I do love you more than anything, that's why I didn't stop you from pulling the trigger"

He sat down beside me, looking surprised.

"If it where anyone else I would've stopped them, but I just couldn't bring myself to hurt you, I couldn't do it" I felt the over whelming urge to lean my head on his shoulder but I resisted.

"Kayla, back then I did hate you, for what you did but I never hated you before that, even after everyone started calling you a demon I still trusted you, and I trust you now as well. As Katherine said I forgave you years ago. But I'm sorry I can't return your love, I love you sister, I'm sorry" he grabbed my shoulders and hugged me close to his chest.

"Thank you, Christian" I whispered, hugging him back.

"I have to leave" I said when he pulled back.

"Leave? Why?"

"I have to, if I stay here there's a chance I'll hurt someone else and next time it might be you, I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you, or Kate again, so I'll leave. I'll go somewhere less populated, or maybe I'll get a job using my power for good." I stood from the bed.

"Tell Kate, I love her and I hope she's happy for the rest of her life"

"It sounds like you won't be back" he said.

"I won't, I know I said I'm ok with you loving Kate but it still hurts to see you two together, so I won't be back, or maybe when I've gained complete control then I'll return."

"I'll be waiting for that day Lady Kayla" he said, shaking me hand.

"Please call me Kay" I said, smiling.

"I love you Christian, please don't ever forget me" and with that I left, tears in my eyes, but a smile on my face, never to return. I didn't see my sister again. But i never forgot them any of them, especially Christian, I kept a picture in my bag of the three of us back before anything awful happened and that's all I needed to keep me going. After a year of travelling from place to place. I ended up in a city in the country that bordered, Ariyai. It was far enough away for me not to want to go home but close enough that I still felt close to them.

I made my money by taking jobs given to me by the citizens, it was mostly tracking and killing demons which I found easy, it also helped with trying to control my anger and power. However I had noticed over the year before that I was being followed, by a girl who looked remarkably like my twin sister I had photographed her once and compared the picture to the one I carried of us, and they were identical. However I could never catch her and when I called her name she ignored me. I decided that it had to be someone pretending to be my sister, after all, my twin was back in Rayar ruling as their queen, it couldn't possibly be her. One of my jobs took me near a shop, named Devil May Cry. The owner of the shop was supposedly the best demon hunter in the world, I found that hard to believe but I decided to check it out. Maybe he could help with capturing the one following me.


	2. the devil hunters office

I raised my hand, wishing I hadn't left my beloved sword back in Rayar. I allowed all my energy to flow down and gather in my palm. I waited for the right moment. It was three feet away from me, but still I waited. Two feet away. I concentrated on making this shot as lethal as I could. One foot away. Now. I released the energy and it exploded out in a straight line. Like a heat seeking missile it found its target easily and quickly. It hit the monster square in the chest forcing it back into the building on the opposite side of the street. There was a crash as the demon's colossal body collided with the brick of the wall, and glass rained down around it. I turned my back on the demon and started walking away.

"Is that all" I heard a low growl of a voice behind me and stopped in my tracks.

"So you're not dead then" I said calmly, turning to face it and placing my hands on my hips. The demon stood on unsteady feet and stumbled forward. I sighed and raised my hand again.

"One more should do it" I concluded, but before I had chance to attack I heard two gun shots from behind me and the demon disappeared.

"You know a girl like you shouldn't't be out alone" I turned to see, the demon hunter I had been hoping to meet, he replaced his guns and smirked at me.

"the names Dante, it's a pleasure babe" he said walking toward me, I sighed, unhappy that he'd taken the demon out before me, but glad he was actually in and not off somewhere else.

"I'm Kayla, thanks for the help" I said not bothering to tell him why I was here at all, I walked in the door of his office leaving him to follow after me.

"You know this is my office" he said slightly annoyed.

"Oh really, I hadn't noticed" I said sarcastically, I sat in the chair opposite his desk and leaned back. He followed suit and sat in his chair. I grinned at him.

"I suppose you're here because you wanted to see me" he said leaning forward on his desk, I nodded, and his smile grew.

"I have a favor to ask of you, or more like a job really" I said reaching into the bag at my waist.

"I'm being followed by a demon, and I need you to help me catch her" I placed a picture of a young woman my age on the table, he studied her crimson red eye's and dark ebony hair.

"This is a picture of you." he said confused.

"No it's not me, it's the demon that's following me, she's been following me for a few weeks now the weird thing is she looks remarkably like my sister, Katherine."

"And you want me to kill her?"

"no, capture not kill, I need to ask her why she's following me and find out if she is actually my sister or just someone pretending to be her" I said, returning the picture to my bag.

"Do you think it is her?" he asked curiously, I shrugged my shoulders.

"I can't say, I hope it's not, but then stranger things have happened I guess"

"So why would a demon be following a young girl like you?" he asked.

"I don't know, that's why I'm here, otherwise I wouldn't be" I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"If it is my twin then I can guess that's she's trying to make sure I'm safe, but I don't understand why she would leave our home just for that, she's needed back home" Dante tilted his head.

"So if she is your sister and she's a demon then you must be a demon as well, I thought I sensed something different about you" I shook my head.

"No I'm not a demon, at least not completely, I'm half demon, half human" he looked confused at this, but I could tell it was fake, he was just trying to make me explain but I wasn't in the mood to argue so I decided to explain to him.

"My mother was human, my father was a demon"

"Katherine my sister was human until she was forced to become a demon in order to save my life, after I left my home, I knew I wouldn't see her again, but now I've been seeing her face everywhere I go and it's not because I miss her, it's this demon she looks just like her and I want to know why." I stopped, wondering if I had said too much, but Dante was still listening intently, nodding at the appropriate times.

"And you want me to help catch this demon, correct" I nodded.

"So will you help me or not?" I asked, leaning forward.

"You know I don't come cheap" I sighed and dropped a bag on the desk in front of him.

"Will this cover it?" he looked surprised when he opened it, inside there was thousands.

"This is awesome" he said grinning.

"I'll do anything to help my sister" I said.

"Dante, this place is a mess" a voice from the door echoed in the empty room, I turned round to see a young girl around 13 standing at the door hands on her hips, Dante sighed as the girl ran up to him, glaring.

"This is patty" he said finally patty looked at me and grinned.

"Hi I'm patty nice to meet you" she said politely, I bent down to her level.

"Hi there, I'm Kayla, nice to meet you too" I shook her hand before standing and turning to Dante.

"Is she your's" I said holding back laughter.

"WHAT? No she's not she's my cleaner" he said, which caused patty to punch him and walk away. I laughed.

"I think I'm going to like it here" I said looking around the place.

"Wait your not living here" Dante said standing.

"You're not going to throw a beautiful young girl out in the cold are you Dante" I said stepping closer to him, he looked down at me. He stared into my eyes trying to break my concentration but it didn't't work and when it failed he sat back down and sighed.

"Fine" he said leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

"I'm going to take a nap, make yourself at home" he said without looking up. I grinned.

"I didn't't think it would be that easy" I said looking at patty.

"He'll do anything for a pretty girl." she answered grabbing a bag to put the rubbish in.

"Oh really, I'll remember that" I said, it would come in useful later.

"hey I need to buy some things, do you want to come with me, I don't know my way around this town very well, I could use a tour guide" I said grinning at her, her face lit up at the idea.

"I would love to" she said gleefully, grinning widely.

"We should let Dante know where we are though" she said fetching a piece of paper and a pen.

On it I wrote.

"_Gone shopping be back soon, patty and Kayla__"_

"That should do it" I said placing the note on his desk and looking to patty.


	3. strawberry sundaes and demons

It was when we were sitting eating strawberry sundaes after spending all of two hours shopping that I thought about Dante.

"Why was he thought of as the greatest demon hunter in the world, he didn't't look anything special, from what I could see he's lazy and easy to annoy. How in the world can this moron be the greatest hunter, it's impossible. Besides he was human, humans never had much luck killing demons. every one of the human demon hunters I've met have died in battle" as I thought this through in my head I slowly ate my ice cream, patty sat opposite me smiling she hadn't bought anything but I could tell she was just happy to have another female to talk to.

"Where to now?" I asked her finishing my sundae, she shrugged her shoulders.

"How about we go to the arcade huh" I smiled, standing.

"Yeah that sounds good" Patty grinned it was easy to forget she was as young as she was; she acted so mature for her age. We walked away from the ice cream stand after paying and headed to the arcade, it was only a few feet away and it took less than five minutes to reach it. Patty stared around as if she had never seen an arcade this big before. I spotted the dancing stage and grinned.

"Let's try that" I said pointing to the dancing game, Patty grinned following me to the game.

After an hour of dancing and playing games I decided we should leave, it was already late afternoon and it would be getting dark soon.

"Shall we get back?" I said as we left the arcade, Patty nodded linking her arm with mine.

It was when we left the mall that I realized there was something wrong, the air around us felt heavy with anger. I tightened my grip on, Patty pulling her closer to my side. She looked up at me confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked seeing the serious look on my face. I didn't't answer, I was transfixed on the car park ahead of us. Patty followed my gaze and froze when she saw what I was looking at.

"Don't worry" I reassured her losing her arm and pulling her behind me.

"Stay behind me, you'll be ok." It would be harder to fight if I had to protect Patty as well however I had no choice I couldn't't leave her alone. The demon started towards us, I stiffened and raised my hand, but before I had a chance to attack the demon spun round and focused on something behind it. I felt Patty breathe a sigh of relief behind me.

Dante stood before the demon his sword leaning on his shoulders, a smirk on his face.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size" he said, I folded my arms.

"What's he going to do?" I asked myself shaking my head and waiting for him to ask for my help, of course he had no way of knowing who I really was, he couldn't't have known how strong I was and if I could handle this alone.

Dante swung his sword down on the demon with one hand and fired his pistol with the other. The demon fell, and disappeared.

After it was over he walked over to us grinning.

"Well hello there beautiful" he said placing his arm around my shoulders.

"How did you do that? and how did you know where we were?" I asked moving away from him, he grinned shrugging his shoulders.

"Truth is I didn't't know you were here, I just followed my prey here, you had nothing to do with it although it was very good to see you".

Patty still stood behind me shaking.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, she nodded, a scared look on her face.

"I think we should get her home" I said to Dante, he agreed and lead we to his car Patty sat in the back me in the front passenger seat.

"You need a new car" I said disapprovingly.

"This car is fine" he answered annoyed.

"Sorry, just not my kind of car" I said remembering the slick, black car I had parked near to devil may cry.

"Well can you drive?" he asked.

"Of course I can" I said acting annoyed.

"I also have a car for your information I'll show it to you later" I said winking at him.

After we reached the office Patty had calmed down and was sleeping on the sofa, me and Dante were sitting either side of his desk, he was asleep, and I was writing in my notebook, documenting what had happened today. I had made it a tradition of mine to document everything I did to do with demons and that world. It made it easier to remember the small details. When I had finished, decided to take a look around the place I would be staying for god knows how long. I noticed all the weapons on the wall behind Dante's desk some of them I didn't't even recognize. I walked around the room until I reached the jukebox.

"Hmm let's see" I mused to myself. I flicked the switch until I reached one that looked interesting. The record label read "_Elaina Houston__"_I pressed play and the sound filled the office her voice was amazing and I tapped my foot to the beat.

"You know I met Elaina Houston herself" Dante said from behind me, I jumped spinning round he was standing inches from me.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" I asked stepping back. He smirked.

"Because it doesn't" I confirmed, turning back to the jukebox, I noticed on the wall behind it the same record was framed.

"Why is that the only one that's framed?" I asked not turning round.

"It's my favorite" he said simply.

"So where is my room" I said

"Follow me" he answered.

I followed him through the door at the back of his office, the small apartment wasn't 5 stars but it was better than some places I had stayed.

"This ones the guest room" Dante said stopping outside the first door he came to.

"Err it hasn't been used in a while so it may be messy" he said opening the door and allowing me in first. Opposite the door was a double bed with tables either side one had a lamp on the other was empty; to the left was a set of draws and a full length mirror.

"Thanks" I said, falling onto the bed.

"I'm exhausted" I moaned without moving.

"Well maybe you should sleep then" Dante said leaning over me and smirking, I sat up suddenly causing us to hit our heads together.

"Ouch" I rubbed my forehead.

"Your fault" Dante said laughing.

After retrieving my shopping bags and placing the clothes In the draws I decided that a nap was a good idea, Dante had yet again fell asleep at his desk and Patty was still sleeping so I shut the door, flicked the lock and lay back on the bed.


	4. demons and automobiles

I slept peacefully, without dreams. This for me was very unusual, dreams of my sister, Christian and home

Usually plagued me but today I was dream free and happy, when I woke I felt refreshed and energetic. I left my room and after washing my face in the bathroom, which I found by opening every door until I found it, I went back into the office. Dante was awake but he was still lounging at his desk, sitting opposite him was a young boy around my age, his hair was white like Dante's and his arm was in a sling. He didn't notice me until I was two feet away from him.

"This is Kayla my new cleaner" Dante said pointing to me, I folded my arms.

"I'm not just your cleaner" I said angrily, the boy laughed and held his hand out for me to shake, I did so smiling back.

"Nice to meet you I'm Nero" he spoke very politely, the total opposite to Dante.

"Nice to meet you too" I answered, sitting on the desk.

"So are you a customer?" I asked curiously, Dante laughed.

"No the kid and I go way back" he said, making Nero angry.

"Stop calling me that!" he shouted,

"Sshhh you'll wake the brat" Dante whispered, pointing to the sofa where Patty lay sleeping.

"How long was I asleep for?"Half way between listening to the jukebox and listening to Dante and his friend.

Dante shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, about an hour or so why?" I shook my head not really paying attention to them anymore.

Outside I could sense something, no someone. I knew who it was; she was very close on the roof.

I jumped off the desk and bolted out the doors of the office leaving Dante and Nero staring after me, confused.

I stood staring at the roof, in front of me in the shadows stood the demon, who had stolen my twins face,

Even from this distance I could see she was smiling, but it wasn't a good smile, it was cruel and deadly.

"What the hell was that?" Dante asked standing in the doorway of the office arms folded, leaning on the door post. Nero was close behind him looking confused. I looked down to them.

"The demon that's following me" I said simply, looking back up to the roof, Dante left the doorway and followed my gaze up, but nothing was there anymore. I sighed.

"She was there a moment ago" I said looking embarrassed.

"I believe you" Dante said, with a laugh that said he didn't mean it.

"You want to see my car?" I said changing the subject. They nodded and followed me, behind the office to a car park just behind. Dante stopped in the entrance to the car park, a surprised look on his face. The only car on the tarmac was a beautiful silver car.

"Wow" Dante said, circling it Nero followed taking in the car.

"It's an Aston martin V12 Vanquish. It does 0-60 in 4.7 seconds" Dante whistled.

"Not bad at all" Nero said.

"You want to take a spin" I said raising my eyebrows, they both nodded excitedly.

"Good get in" I said fishing my keys out and unlocking the door, the lights flashed, and I got in the driver's seat. I turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life, I pulled out of the car park and turned left onto the straight road that lead away from the office, I floored it and within 5 seconds it had reached 60mph, I slowed to 30 as I spun round the corner, then back up to 60 on the straight I continued this until I reached the office doors again, I pulled it to a stop. I looked to Dante in the passenger seat beside me, he looked impressed and excited.

"Well what do you think?" I asked grinning at him, he just nodded grinning, Nero was silent behind me, I looked back and saw him beaming at me.

"That was awesome" he said.

"How did you afford a car like that?" Dante asked after we had settled in the office again.

"My parents left me a lot of money when they died, along with the mansion that my father built with his own hands."

Patty by this time had woken up and was watching Nero who was folding paper on the table in front of him, she watched intently until he had finished. Nero threw the paper plane towards Dante's desk and Patty followed it with her eyes, it landed on the desk between me and Dante.

"That's so cool" Patty exclaimed running over to retrieve the plane. I focused my attentions on something more important my notebook, I had to document seeing the demon today, but it was hard to concentrate on writing knowing Dante was sitting across from me reading every word wrote.

"What are you writing?" he asked even though I knew he had read it.

"I have to document every encounter I have with demons" I said still scribbling,

"Why?" he asked, I sighed, dropping the pen and glaring at him.

"Sorry" he said holding his hands up in mock surrender, I returned to my writing, after writing down the address of devil may cry, I ended the paragraph with _"__this is going to be interesting__"_.

I lay on the uncomfortable bed; I had been allocated in a room that was barely lit by a small light hanging from the ceiling. I could feel the demon's presence, as I had done every night.

"Probably on the roof again" I whispered to myself.

Dante was still in the office, Patty had gone home and Nero was napping on the sofa in the office. An unusual feeling of calm and peace was all around but I knew that this was the calm before the storm. Soon very soon something was going to happen, but what it was I couldn't tell. I decided to take advantage of the eerie calm and sleep; after all if something was going to happen I needed my strength.


	5. broken music and the rain

A crash in the office woke me up, I sat up quickly, my senses on high alert. Another crash, I pulled on my jeans and left the room, slipping my arms into my jacket as I did so, I carefully walked toward the door to the office without making a sound. Another crash made me jump, I stopped in my tracks listening I didn't sense a demon so I guessed it was Dante messing around with something. I opened the door to see Dante standing next to a destroyed jukebox.

"what happened?" I asked.

"it stopped working" Dante said angrily pointing at the dismantled music box.

"well hitting it isn't going to make it work" I said matter of factly. Dante sighed and stomped over to his desk.

"its completely destroyed" I said examining the machine, Dante didn't answer he just grumbled something under his breath.

"don't you have any money to fix it?" I asked, looking in his direction even though his face was hidden behind a magazine.

"no" he said, I sighed.

"well I guess theres no more music then" I concluded

Outside I heard a car stop and looked up toward the door ,before continuing examining the jukebox even though I didn't know anything about electronics I felt like I was doing some good by staring at it blankly.

"Wake up dante!" someone shouted behind me, I jumped and turned round, standing before me was an older looking man, with his arms folded staring at the back of the magazine in front of Dante's face.

"oh hello" he said turning to face me.

"I didn't notice you there, my name is Morrison nice to meet you" he held his hand out for me to shake.

"hi im Kayla nice to meet you too" I said sahking his hand.

"shouldn't you greet people who enter your office?" I asked the back of the magazine, Dante moaned from behind the pages, but didn't move the magazine, I sighed and snatched it out of his hands, causing him to glare at me.

"don't be rude" I said folding my arms in mock anger.

"what do you want Morrison" he asked the man, I sighed and returned to the jukebox, knowing that I wasn't going to make Dante any nicer than he was already. I heard an exchange of annoyed words behind me before, Morrison came up behind me.

"what's wrong with it?" he asked resting a hand on my shoulder.

"him" I said pointing to Dante.

"he destroyed it" I sighed at the smirk that appeared on Dante's face.

"let me see" Morrison said gesturing for me to move, I left the machine and walked over to the desk where Dante sat sulking that I had taken his magazine, I felt rather sorry for him but it was his own fault really.

"can I have my magazine back now?" he asked, holding his hand out.

"fine" I said sighing, he took it from me a grin appearing again, but he set it aside as I sat down opposite him.

"how do you know Morrison?" I asked curiously.

"he's an old friend, he sometimes bring me jobs." he said uninterested.

"why did you break the jukebox"? I pointed to the machine and the old man trying to fix it and mumbling annoyed in the process.

"it stopped working" he said shrugging his shoulders.

"cant you control your anger?" I asked, he didn't have an answer for this he just shrugged his shoulders, but I knew all too well that I couldn't control my anger that well, that's why I tried to stay out of things that would anger me for fear of losing it again.

After about an hour or so the jukebox was fully restored to its former glory, and Morrison was sitting on the sofa exhausted. I was outside sitting on the steps in front of the office underneath the stone verander, watching the rain pour down from the dark sky behind me Dante stood leaning against the door, silently he had been silent for most of the hour it was strange really.

"this rain is really coming down huh?" I asked looking over my shoulder at him, he looked distracted and slightly upset, and he jumped when he heard my voice.

"what oh yeah it is, maybe we should go inside" he gestured towards the door, I shook my head.

"no I like the rain" I answered, he sighed and sat down beside me, I looked at him as he stared into the sky a far away look in his eye's.

"whats the matter?" I asked returning my gaze to the sky.

"nothing why?" he sounded surprised like he didn't realise he even looked down.

"you look sad" I said, he sighed and shook his head again.

"you can talk to me, I know you don't even know me well, but you can trust me" I said edging closer to him. He jumped when my arm brushed his so I moved away again.

"it reminds me of things I'd rathe forget" his voice was quiet, I could tell he didn't want to talk about it so I didn't ask again I merely returned to watching the skies, I was so transfixed on the sky that I jumped two inches off the steps when he spoke again.

"it was raining, the day I lost everything" he seemed to be talking to himself more than me, not even realising I was still there.

"my mother was killed, my dad disappeared, and my brother abandoned us"

He sighed again running his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry" I didn't have anything to say, I knew that he was being so open with me and it made me feel so trusted.

He turned a small smile on his face.

"sorry for being so depressing" he appologized standing and offering me his hand I took it and stood, he still looked down to me but he was smiling so I decided to let it go. As we entered the office again Morrison was about to leave.

"are you leaving, nice to meet you" I said shaking his hand he smiled.

"thank you for fixing the jukebox" he smiled again before leaving, that left me and Dante alone again.

Being alone with Dante wasn't all that bad really, ok he was a perv and annoying at times, but he had a softer side I saw it when he spoke about his family, I just needed to bring it out again somehow.


	6. the bell and the labrinth

As I sat doodling in the back of my notebook, annoyed at the idea of yet another day of doing absolutely nothing, the bell above the door rang signaling the arrival of a new guest. The man who entered was a tall thin man with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes, his ears where slighted pointed, leading him or rather dragging him was Patty which surprised me as I'd never seen her with anyone but Dante or me. As soon as the man entered the office I could tell he wasn't human however Patty seemed to trust him, and some demons could totally pass for human so I decided to pretend I didn't know and move on.

"Welcome back Patty who's your friend?" I asked standing, Patty grinned at me.

"This is my new friend, Arca…Arcad…" she stuttered.

"Arcadian, nice to meet you" the man corrected, I shook his hand smiling but noticing the sword at his waist.

"Kayla nice to meet you as well"

Across the room I could hear Dante snoring, so that left me to greet our newest customer at least that's what I hoped he was here for.

"Please come in, sit down" I lead the stranger to the desk were he sat down Patty rushed off mumbling something about making tea, leaving me alone with Arcadian.

"How do you know Patty?" I asked causally, he shrugged his shoulders.

"I met her in the park, she said I looked lonely so she brought me here" this I thought very strange why would a complete stranger follow a young girl to a devil hunter's office. I frowned trying to figure it out.

"Here you go" Patty placed and flowered cup before the man and then stood next to me grinning.

"I hear Dante Sparda lives and works here" Arcadian said, and it was suddenly so clear why he had actually come here.

"Yes" I said anger filling my voice; he noticed this and smiled slightly.

"Don't worry, I am not here to cause trouble" he said calmly, I wasn't convinced he looked shifty and more than a bit dangerous.

"Why are you here then?" I asked not hiding my anger and distrust anymore.

"I am merely here to offer him a proposition" he answered, flipping his long hair back and unclasping the bell around his neck, the bell looked ordinary enough. It was made of silver and had a skull engraved into it.

"I want him to look after this for me" Arcadian placed the bell on the table and pushed it towards me, I could sense the evil radiating from it.

"What is it?" I asked not able to take my eyes from it.

"A bell" the man seemed to be one of few words, I sighed annoyed at the less than informative answer.

"Well I must leave now, tell Dante I'll be back in a week to fetch it back" Arcadian stood and opened the door to leave.

"Hey wait, you're not even going to wait for his answer?" I yelled angrily, it was quite annoying that he just assumed that Dante would take the job.

"He will obey, it is a demon artifact after all" the word obey echoed in my head, it sounded like the man knew he was more powerful than Dante, not that he thought it he knew. But that was impossible I was yet to meet a demon who Dante couldn't defeat, although I hadn't been here for that long.

Immediately after the tall man had left, Patty climbed onto the chair opposite me and we both stared at the bell.

"A demon artifact" I repeated what the man called Arcadian had told us before he left. Patty nodded reaching a hand towards it.

"I don't think we should touch it before Dante wakes up" I said quickly, I didn't like the aura it was giving off and if it was a demon artifact maybe Dante could tell what it was before it turned dangerous. I stood to leave and wake Dante, he was sleeping in the second floor room directly above the office, I climbed the dark falling down staircase, making a note of yet another thing that needed fixing In this junkyard Dante called an office. At the top of the stairs was a small landing leading off it where three rooms, Dante's room, my room and the bathroom.

"Dante?" I shouted knocking on the door. No answer.

"It's time to get up!" still no answer, I sighed and opened the door. Inside it was dark all I could see was the double bed that filled the entire room, lying on his back fast asleep was Dante. I crept up beside the bed and leant forward to shout in his ear but before I could his arm reached up and pulled me down to him, I landed face down on his chest, not what I expected. I tried to move but his grip just tightened, both of his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Wake up!" I shouted hoping he would hear and let me go.

"I am awake" he said, laughing. I blushed furiously, at the fact that he had knowingly, pulled me down onto his bed.

"Let me go!" I yelled struggling, but it was useless I was no match for his strength.

"No way, I finally got you into my bed" he said softly into my ear. My face was redder than his coat by now, why in the world was this bothering me so much, I mean any girl would be happy to be this close to such a gorgeous man. I shook my head trying to get rid of the thoughts running through my head.

"What's the matter babe you're not falling for me are ya?" he released one arm and lifted my face so I could see the smirk on his mouth.

"Let me go" I said slowly, trying to sound angry, but he just laughed at my attempt.

"What will it take for you to let me go?" I asked, changing my tactics from yelling to reasoning, he thought for a long moment before answering me.

"Let me read that notebook of yours" such a simple request but I couldn't let him read it. I didn't want him to know everything about my past and give him more to use as leverage.

"No way" I stated firmly.

"Fine then kiss me" he said smirking, I blushed a look of disbelief on my face.

"What?" I struggled even more to get myself free but failed.

"Kiss me, and I'll let you go" he said leaning closer to me, considered my options, it was either give him my notebook and be done with this or kiss him, I couldn't do either he had me cornered.

"Well?" Dante winked at me, and I decided that my notebook was more important than a little kiss, or it would be if it wasn't my first kiss.

"What's the third choice?" I asked hoping he would give up and give me something small to do before letting me go.

"Stay here until I finish my nap" I sighed, then mentally kicked me at not remembering the demon bell in the office.

"There's a bell, in the office that some demon gave to you" I quickly said, trying to distract him. It failed.

"You won't distract me with lies" I could tell by his expression that he wasn't going to back down.

"I'm serious and Patties in there with it" that got him because his arms slackened and I was able to slide off the bed and run to the door before he could grab me again.

"Ok fine" he said folding his arms across his bare chest.

"We'll continue this conversation later" Dante said winking at me as he passed to leave, I blushed.

"In your dreams" I retorted.

"Oh you will be" he answered, he always had an answer for everything and it was quite annoying.

Back in the office Patty stared at the bell, it seemed to her that if it was really that dangerous she wouldn't have been left alone with it so she picked it up and shook it. The bell jangled like any normal bell would but what happened next was not what she had expected. A bright light enveloped her and she covered her eyes however when she opened them she wasn't in the office still. She was somewhere she had never seen before; the place was dark and really creepy. Strange looking tree's arched over an entrance of stone. Patty walked slowly up to the gateway and peered beyond it, all she could see was a long passageway one that didn't seem to end at all.

"who are you?" an angry voice asked from behind, Patty spun round to see a small man shorter than her but it was clear he wasn't human, his face was distorted and his ears pointed.

"Me? I'm Patty, where am I?" she spoke quietly fear making her shake uncontrably.

"Patty huh, stupid name. You're in Lord Daemon's world my dear" he said pointing to the castle on a tall mountain above her.

"If you want to get out, you need to go there. The gate to the labyrinth is there" he pointed to the large gates Patty had been looking through.

"L…labyrinth" she repeated.

"But it's just a straight road, it can't be a labyrinth" the small man shook his head.

"Silly girl, you take too much for granted" he said before scurrying off through the gates. Patty stood there a while before deciding that if the labyrinth was the only way to get out she had no choice but to brave it, she took a deep breath and opened the gates.


	7. nightmare devils never cry

Dante made his way down to the office and I followed behind being careful to keep my distance. But as we got to the bottomn of the staircase a bright, white light shone through the door and Dante stopped.

"whats that?" I asked, Dante just shrugged his shoulders and walked faster into the office. Inside Patty was nowhere to be found. On the floor next to the desk was the silver bell, and a white square piece of paper. Dante picked up the paper leaving the bell on the floor and began reading, when he'd finished he handed the paper to me it read:

"_the nightmare has begun, can it ever become a dream again?__"_I shrugged my shoulders and tilted my head to the left.

"whats it mean?" I asked reaching down for the bell, but Dante grabbed my shoulder and pulled my back up, I was going to complain but his serious expression stopped me.

"don't touch it" he said picking it up, being careful to hold the metal inside so it didn't ring.

"Seems Patty had been spirited away" Dante said quietly.

"taken? What do we do?" I asked worried, Dante stared at the bell curiously.

"I'm going after her, you wait here" I looked at him In disbelief.

"I'm coming with you" I said firmly, he looked at me, stared into my eyes but I didn't falter.

"I'm coming with you" I repeated, he stared at me a while longer before sighing.

"fine, but just…don't get in the way" I smiled at him and nodded.

"how do we follow her?" I wondered out loud.

"same way she went" Dante answered holding up the bell, and offering me his hand, I hesitantly took it.

"lets rock!" he said, and shook the bell, the bell rang and the same light I had seen before, enveloped us both and the office was left in silence.

When the light faded, both me and Dante stared around the dark, creepy place we had entered into.

"where are we?" I asked staring around, Dante shrugged his shoulders.

"Nice to see you finally" Dante and I turned around to see a small deformed man, or rather demon.

"and who the hell are you, midget" Dante aimed his ebony at the man, but the man didn't budge he didn't even flinch.

"I'm cray and you are Dante correct" the demon replied, Dante nodded silently.

"and you young lady who are you?" Cray asked me, grinning.

"she's not important, where's the girl?" Dante shouted, stepping in front of me, the demon merely shrugged.

"in there" he said, pointing towards the castle.

"thanks little man" Dante said, grinning before firing a shot or two at Cray, however the demon dodged them easily and scurried off again into the darkness.

"open sesame!" Dante shouted before kicking the gates open, they lead into a dark corridor, lined of both sides by high walls, topped with metal spikes.

"doesn't look we have much choice as to which way we go" I said, gesturing to the straight path before us.

"its not as straight as it looks" Dante said, he ran his hand along the wall as we walked it seemed strange to me but he seemed to be searching for smething. I copied him and ran my hand along the wall on the other side, the stone was cold and wet against my skin.

"found it" Dante exclaimed stopping dead in his tracks.

"found what?" I asked, I looked at the wall it was normal looking, well normal considering where we were.

"watch" he said pushing on the stone of the wall. I watched carefully as the wall before us opened like a door.

"how did you know that would happen?" I couldn't believe he actually knew it would.

"I didn't" he answered shrugging his shoulders. I sighed and followed him through the doorway and into a huge garden, at the end of the garden was a mansion. It looked amazing I stared around I awe, but Dante just stared blankly at the building as if he knew it well.

"nice try!" he shouted pointing at the sky, and making me jump.

"what are you talking about" I said looking confused. He didn't answer he was staring towards the mansion doors in disbeilief. I turned to see a woman leaving the building through the doors. She was beautiful, her hair was golden and flowed to her waist her eyes shone a beautiful blue. She held the hand of a small child with silver hair he looked remarkably like a young version of Dante.

"mother" Dante whispered next to me, and when I looked at him, his face showed his pain.

"Dante are you ok?" I asked edging closer to him, he nodded but didn't take his eyes off the two before him. As the two walked down the steps of the mansion in our direction demons appeared as if from nowhere and attacked them. Dante sprang into action firing his twin pistols but he missed every shot, or rather his bullets went through the demons with ease. He tried rebellion but that too went straight through the demons they didn't even seem to notice he was there at all. I raised my hand and shot a bolt of energy at them but my attacks too went through.

"whats going on?" I asked myself shaking my head.

"why isn't it working?" Dante said firing again.

"Damn it!" he shouted landing in front of me and replacing his guns in their holsters behind him. I wathced as the blonde woman pulled the boy behind her and crossed her arms across her chest bracing herself for the attack.

"Damn it!" Dante shouted again firing yet again in the demons direction even though he obviously knew it wouldn't work, it was useless. The demon attacked the woman and child causing Dante to charge it but he just ran straight through, he wasn't about to give up though he wheeled around and charged again.

"Dante its no use!" I yelled to him but he ignored me completely and charged again. I turned my attention to the woman again just in time to see her fall lifeless to the ground the young boy was crying and shaking her furiously.

"mother, no, wake up" he whined rubbing his eyes, I nearly ran over to them but realised that Dante was sitting on the ground next to me shaking his head.

"Dante" I knelt down beside him, but he didn't look at me he was staring at the scene before him.

"you ok?" I asked him not expecting a reaction from him.

"that woman, she was my mother." he said quietly, nodding towards the woman on the ground.

"your mother?"

"yeah she died, exactly like this years ago"

"I'm sorry" I said, not knowing how to make him feel better about it. I mean what does someone say to that, I'm sorry didn't seem like enough.

"we should continue" I said trying to bring back his fired up attitude, but he didn't respond or move. As I looked at his face I saw water sliding down the side of his face.

"are you crying?" I knew it sounded insentive but I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"devils never cry" Dante said to me, standing and offering me his hand.

"lets go find Patty" he smiled at me but I could tell it was just a mask to hide how he really felt. I knew because I did the same thing every time something upsetting happened in my life I just smiled and hoped no-one would notice.


	8. thunder and his brother

As we turned away from the mansion from Dante's memories, the door we had entered through had disappeared, in its place stood a huge archway. Down the columns of the arch snakes where engraved all the down to the ground. Beyond the arch there was a path of stone.

"wonder what we'll come across next" I said hoping it would be slightly more cheery than the last scene but knowing it probably wouldn't be. Half way down the path it opened ot into a courtyard, in the centre stood a statue of a man on a horse holding a sword that resembled Dante's rebellion. Other than the statue the courtyard was empty and there where no doors apart from the path we had entered through.

"great now what" Dante complained, circling the statue. Suddenly the sky darkened and it started to rain heavily.

"perfect" I said reaching up and tying my hair in the ribbon from around my wrist.

"well a little rain never hurt anyone"

"that all you got!" Dante shouted up to the sky, as if replying to his voice lightning flashed across the sky and the rumble of thunder could be heard from a distance. Hearing the thunder I froze, and wrapped my arms around myself.

"this is getting boring" Dante said leaning against the statue for shelter, but it didn't help at all. Across the courtyard I noticed a small building made of stone. I bolted for the door hoping the building would quieten the storm some.

"Kayla wait up!" I heard Dante shout as I ran past him and into the dark building, inside it was smaller than it looked from outside and it was empty.

"what was that?" Dante asked annoyed, I just sat down on the floor and wrapped my arms around me legs.

"close the door" I said quietly, shaking.

"fine" Dante leant on the door staring at me, obviously trying to figure out what was going on.

"alright explain" he said, sitting next to me, I shook my head.

"I'm fine" I answered but he shook his head.

"no your clearly not ok" he said defiantly.

"tell me" he wasn't going to let it go so I decided that a simple answer would shut him up.

"I don't like thunder" I answered, not moving, another clap of thunder made me jump and tears filled my eyes.

"you don't like thunder, you mean your scared" he obviously didn't know whether to laugh and what to do.

"yes I'm scared of thunder" I was expecting him to burst out laughing at me but he didn't say anything.

"seems this place is getting in our heads" Dante said after a while, I nodded but another crash of thunder and I froze again. Beside me I heard Dante sigh, he sounded annoyed.

"sorry..I" I began but I stopped when Dante reached over and put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me nearer to him.

"it'll be over soon" he said quietly, I leant my head on his chest and closed my eyes, hoping he was right. My mind went back to my home, I imagined it was Christian holding me back on my home town. And that nothing had happened to make it change.

"the thunders stopped" Dante said making me jump we had been sitting in silence for ages now.

"is it still raining" I asked, looking up at him.

"I'll go check" he stood, and as soon as he had left I felt how cold it was in the stone building.

"yeah its stopped" I breathed a sigh of relief and followed Dante outside. It had indeed stopped raining however the sky was still dark threatening another storm.

"lets get out of here" I said quickly noticing a new door had appeared to the left of where we were.

"all these doors are getting old, fast" Dante complained pushing on the wooden door.

"great another path, doesn't this place have any creativity at all" I noticed Dante was getting angry with this and I had to admit it was annoying me as well.

"stairs, that's a change" I said trying to lighten the mood, the stone stairs led down into a cave.

"what is it with this place and darkness?" I said stopping to let my eyes focus, once again there was no exit, just the dome shaped cave and the entrance.

"this is promising" I said sarcastically.

Looking around the room I noticed on the walls there where chains, like it was some medieval torture chamber or something. On the far side of the cave I could hear someone talking but couldn't see anything.

"great another illusion" Dante moaned. We walked slowly towards the figure, as we did it became clear that there was two figures one was a tall man dressed all in black, he had pointed ears and huge black bat like wings. He was standing in front of the other figure, who was a bot about ten years old.

"isn't that the same kid as before" I asked Dante who was watching carefully.

"vergil" he said.

"my twin brother" he confirmed, his twin was chained to the wall with a defiant look on his face. But although he looked angry and defiant there was pain in his eyes. The man in black stepped closer to the boy and spoke to him quietly.

"where are they boy, you know I will get it out of you one way or another" the mans voice was dangerously low and tinged with evil.

"I wont tell you" the boy responded, glaring at the man.

"oh you will, trust me" as the man spoke he drew a katana from his belt and unsheathed it.

"Yamato" Dante whispered, more to himself than me.

"such a beautiful sword" the man in black said, admiring the blade I his hands. He looked at the boy then back at the sword.

"it doesn't belong to you" the boy shouted angrily, at this statement the man glared at the boy and held the blade to the boys throat.

"maybe not but that wont stop me killing you with it" he threatened, but the boy didn't seem afraid at all, his face was calm even though he was clearly shaking.

"go ahead" the boy held his head higher brushing it against the blade.

"you aksed for it" the man said, before stepping back and pointing the blade at the boys small body.

Beside me Dante stiffened and I gasped, not believing what I was seeing.

"you will tell me where they are" the man said before driving the sword forward into the boys chest. The screams that came from the child where heartbreaking and tears filled my eyes hearing them, beside me Dante stood in silence. As soon as the boy was stabbed a door appeared next to them.

"the door, Dante lets leave now" I looked at him gesturing to the door but he wasn't pying attention to me. I walked over and pulled on his sleeve.

"wake up!" I shouted, and he jumped glaring at me.

"the door, lets go" I said, it was clear that it was painful for him to be here so I decided we should leave but he seemed angry that I wanted to leave.

"lets go" I repeated, he didn't answer just started walking towards the door I pushed it open and we both walked through.


	9. the labrinth through childs eyes

Patty's POV

The room I was in was deathly cold, I shivered looking around at the stone walls and ornate carvings on the ceiling. I wondered why I was here at all, the door was open but I knew that If I even tried to leave I wouldn't reach the door in time. Across the room a man watched me carefully, his eyes never leaving my face. The castle I was in, I had appeared in about an hour ago, or was it longer it was hard to tell it a place like this with no clocks. Shortly after entering the labrynth I had heard bells, before a man appeared before me. He was a tall man with short hair that was blonde and black. He wore a black suit and top hat with red ribbon tied around the brim which flowed down behind him almost to the floor. He had explained that he would take me to the castle in the centre of the labrynth, but I didn't trust him one bit, he scared me. Once we had reached the castle he had told me to make myself at home as I would be here a while this made me even more scared.

"you wont make it out before I catch you" the blonde man said, an evil grin on his face.

"what do you want with me?" I asked him, shaking, but he just shook his head.

"we don't want anything with you, your just a bonus" he answered walking towards me.

"a bonus?" by now I was frozen with fear I couldn't say what scared me so much about this place but it did.

"yes, you see, we are looking for Dante Sparda, and it seems you know him. We had intended for him to be the first one to ring the bell however it seems your curiosity got the better of you"

"the bell" I said finally realising how I had got to this world in the first place, the man nodded.

"but you know what they say about the curiosity and what it did to the cat" he was within metres from me and I could almost smell the evil eminating from him.

"we will have to get rid of you, so it doesn't intefere with our plans"

"y..you mean k…kil me" I stuttered backing away, he nodded.

"but don't you worry we wont kill you just yet, in a while or so, you can relax until then my dear."

Tears filled my eyes as I realised the weight of my situation, how was I getting out of this alive. All I could do was hope that Dante had figured it out and was on his was to save me. But that seemed impossible now, with fear clouding my mind I couldn't think straight. All I could think of was a way to escape but there was no way.

"dante will save me!" I shouted finally anger replacing fear and driving me forward, I bolted for the doors but the blonde man reached them before me he was lightining fast.

"not so fast princess" he said as he stepped forward causing me to back up again.

"let me leave" I said fear returning to my voice.

"we cant let you go unfortunately, now you are the only reason he is here and if I let you go he will find you and leave as well, and our plans will be ruined."

"why do you keep saying we" I asked, confused he was the only one here after all.

"my master and I" he answered, grinning.

"who is your master?" talking and asking questions made me feel slightly less scared and I hoped it would give me some more time.

"the one who sent Dante the bell" the man closed the door and returned to his post leaning against the wall.

"you mean Arcadian" I said, I couldn't believe that man was bad he seemed so nice and kind to me. But what did I know I was only a child afterall. The blonde laughed.

"no he was just the middle man, he knows nothing of the plan, I mean…" he was interrupted when the doors opened and another man walked in.

"welcome back my lord" the blonde said bowing. The other man looked at me then back at his servant.

"the girl wondered into my labrynth sir. She may be of some use to us, you see she Knows Dante. Shes the whole reason him and that girl are here.

"Kayla's with him?" I was surprised she had come I mean she barely knew me but glad that someone was coming to save me.


	10. death?

As the door shut behind us, the room we had entered grew dark. Dante walked ahead of me before turning to face me.

"nothing in here" he said, but as he finished talking the room suddenly turned pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I lost sight of Dante, I couldn't even sense is presence anymore.

"Dante!" I shouted, panic filling my voice. No answer. I looked around trying to see something, anything, but failed.

"Kayla" a voice floated on the air, I knew who it was as soon as I heard it but I knew there was no way my sister could be here. Still it was unnerving hearing her voice and not being able to see.

"Kayla, help me" her voice came again, filled with terror and pain. I froze.

"its not real" I repeated to myself, feeling the darkness closing in. I tried to back up against the door but it wasn't there anymore nothing was anywhere. There was just darkness.

"why wont you save me?" I tried to block out her voice and concentrate on slowing my heart rate. Just as I thought I was calming down, I heard my sister knees buckled and fell to the ground.

"its not real. Its not real" I kept telling myself, as I sat shaking. The dark room felt like it was holding me down on the ground it was nearly unbearable.

"its all your faulot sister" Katherines voice was soft but filled with anger, and hatred. I shook my head waiting for it to be over.

"it cant last much longer" I said to myself remembering the other short illusions. But even though they were just that, illusions, it was hard to believe they weren't real in this place. This labrynth got into my head and made me believe what I was experiencing was real and not pretend.

"look at me sister" My twins voice was closer this time, as I lifted my head she appeared out of the shadows and glared at me. There was blood all over her clothes, her once beautiful long hair was matted and wet with blood.

"look what you did, Kayla" Katherine said, walking towards me, in her hand she held the gun my father had given her.

"your not real" I said standing, she laughed.

"oh but your mind makes me real" she answered, she was standing inches from me, the gun between us.

"you see this place has a way of getting into your mind and making your darkest fears come true, so in a way I'm only here because of you" my twin lifted the pistol to my head and leaned forward.

"if this is an illusion, I wonder if this will feel real or not" I tried to push her back but she was too strong, she always was stronger than me in so many ways.

"don't bother trying your powers they wont work in this room, ive made sure of that" Katherine said pressing the gun against my head.

"your not real, so do what you want it wont kill me" I said defiantly, hoping I was right. My sister shrugged her shoulders and pulled the trigger.

"its an illusion is it" the woman said as I screamed and fell to the ground, motionless. My vision blurred before everything disappeared and I lost conciousness.


	11. the castle at the centre of the labrinth

As my mind cleared and I began to wake up, I wondered to myself how I had survived being shot in the head at point blank range. But this place was full of illuions afterall. The pain in my head felt very real though.

"Kayla!" someone called my name, which made my head hurt even more.

"Kayla wake up we're almost there"

"almost where" I thought to myself. My eyes felt heavy but I forced them to open, as I did so I saw Dante.

"welcome back sleeping beauty" he said, smiling at me.

"where are we?" I asked even though I knew we where in the labrynth still, we weren't in the same room as before. It was then that I realised Dante was carrying me, bridal style.

"its ok you can put me down now" I said quickly, blushing. He stopped walking and smirked when he saw my blush.

"you sure" he said, slightly concerned, I nodded.

"alright" he put me down, but I couldn't stand alone. I felt dizzy.

"Hey you ok?" Dante asked as I leant on him, I nodded. I didn't want to rely on him but it seemed I had no choice.

"your not, let me help you" he said lifting me into his arms again.

"looks like I'm going to have to save two damsels in distress today" Dante said laughing.

"I'm not in distress" I answered firmly, he just laughed and carried on walking.

"you said we where nearly there, nearly where?" I asked after a while.

"the castle and the centre of the labrynth" he pointed up ahead. On a mountain stood a beautiful, white castle.

"that was quick" I stared at the white towers and huge wooden doors.

"is that where Patty is?" he nodded.

"yeah I suppose so"

"you mean your not sure" he shrugged his shoulders.

"not really, but we'll soon find out wont we"

The silver haired, devil hunter started running down the long stone path that led to the castle at the centre of this labrynth of nightmares. I wondered what the centre of this place held, it most definitely wouldn't be good, it made me glad I wasn't here alone. I hated to admit it but I was glad Dante was here with me, I couldn't have gone through this place alone and come out the other end.

"I wonder how patty got through the labrynth" I thought aloud.

"don't know, maybe she didn't have to" Dante slowed his pace slightly.

"what do you mean"

"well the bell was sent for me correct?" I nodded.

"so if patty got here first, maybe they thought they could use her as bait to lure me here. I doubt they counted on you being here though"

"that makes sense I suppose, I just hope they havent hurt Patty" I was beginning to care about that little girl even though I didn't know her well, I did care about her and I hated the thought of her being hurt, because of my stupidity.

"its my fault she's here at all" I whispered.

"its not your fault" Dante reassured, I shook my head.

"it is if I hadn't left her alone with it, she wouldn't be here."

"no you both would be and I would have to save you both, I honestly don't think I would've gotten through the labrynth alone" it sounded strange for the greates devil hunter in the world to admit he needed the help of a young girl, but here he was saying he couldn't have done it without me.

"you don't mean that, you would have been at the caslte already and beaten the bad guy to a pulp if I wasn't here" I was trying to lift the mood, Dante laughed.

"really you think so?" he said laughing, I joined in the laughter but that was a bad idea it made my head hurt again. After a few more minutes of running Dante stopped outside the castle and pushed on the door.

"locked damn" he said, walking back in the direction we had come. I was about to say something when he spun round and took and running kick at the door, it didn't budge so he lifted ebony and ivory and fired a rally of round off until the door was no more.

"don't you think that was a bit over the top?" I asked, staring at the destroyed door.

"no way" he said smirking.

On the ouside the castle was certainly imposing, however inside it seemed small. The room was dimly lit, with candles which where dotted around the room. I walked closer to D ante, looking around expecting another illusion but nothing happened.

"its too quiet in here" Dante said, replacing his pistols to their holsters. Directly in front of us was a grand staircase that led up to a balcony which circled the castle.

"well done" a voice echoed in the empty room.

"show yourself!" Dante shouted into the darkness.

"now, now calm down," a tall blonde haired man walked out of the darkness at the top of the staircase.

"welcome to my labrynth" he said removing his hat and bowing.

"so this is your handy work?" Dante asked.

"yes do you like it" the demon asked slowly walking down the stairs.

"not really, not my taste" Dante said removing his psitol and aiming it at the demon approaching us.

"calm down, I'm not the one who wants to fight you" the demons voice echoed all around the castle.

"wheres the girl?" Dante asked, stepping forward.

"she's here" the demon stepped aside to reveal, the young girl.

"Patty are you ok?"I asked walking towards her, but Dante stopped me. He shook his head as I looked at him confused.

"so who are you working for?" he asked returning his attention to the demon.

"someone your very familiar with" the demon answered.

"my name is Daemon Song, and this is my domain, the labrynth of nightmares."

"but you already now what my labrynth can do right?" the man tilted his head to the left, an evil but almost childish smile on his face.

"I don't give a damn about your labrynth, tell me who you work for" Dante fired his gun, but the demon dodged it easily.

"my labrynth is perfect. How dare you shoot at me" the demon glared at Dante a while before running at him head on.

"Daemon stop" another voice echoed and both the demon and Dante froze, the demon stepped back and returned to where patty sat on the stairs.

"my lord I appologize, I lost my temper forgive me" the demon begged, bowing to the figure at the top of the stairs. As I wathced the man emerged from the shadows and decended the stairs, he was a tall man wearing blue, his hair was white like Dante's in fact he looked identical to Dante. The only difference being his hair style and clothes.

"who is that?" I asked Dante who was frozen where he stood.

"vergil, why are you here!" Dante ignored my question and yelled at the man before him.

"I wanted to see you brother" the man replied, obviously not meaning it. But he was emotionless it was hard to tell what his intentions were.

"let the girl go!" Dante shouted aiming his ebony at his brother.

"take her, I don't need her anyway" Dante's twin gestured for Daemon to bring Patty to him.

"here" Vergil pushed the girl towards us.

"Patty, are you hurt?" I asked as she stood shaking before me,she didn't answer, she was pale and her eyes looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"its ok" I said pulling her beside me and holding her close.

"take her and get out of here" Dante said not looking at us.

"what, no I'm not leaving!" I was determined to stay after all as far as I knew there wasn't a way out without, the enemies help.

"besides theres no way out" I continued, Dante sighed.

"how do we get out?" he asked the demon behind his twin.

"don't ignore me" his twin said, unsheathing the sword he carried at his waist and walking towards him.

"looks like I'll have to beat the answer out of you" Dante said removing rebellion form his back and pointing it at his brother. I backed away with Patty until we were back at the destroyed door.

"where are you going?" suddenly Daemon was behind me, I spun round and pulled Patty behind me,

"Leave them alone!" Dante shouted across the room, firing a shot in the demons direction, but he was cut off but his brothers sword before he could fire anymore.

"its ok, I'll handle it!" I shouted back, even though I wasn't sure how exactly.I was still weak from the last room we were in and my head was excruciating. But I had to protect Patty so I decided I would have to fight. I just hoped I could keep my temper inder control, although in the state I was in I couldn't have done much damage even if I did lose control.

I stared at the demon before me, waiting for him to make his move. But he just stared back at me, as if he didn't know what to do without orders.

"lord Vergil, can I kill these two now?" he asked without taking his eyes off mine.

"yes" Dante's twins voice returned, Daemon's grin widened as he advanced.

"good" he said to himself. I stiffened, I still hadn't got an idea as to what to do yet. I had to think of something and fast.

"patty stay behind me, it'll be ok" I reassured the terrified girl behind me. By now the demon was inches from us, I tried to attack but my energy was too depleted to do anything that would cause any damage.

"seems your defenseless" Daemon sang, stopping in front of me.

"not defenseless" I answered, still thinking of another way I could either defeat him or stall him long enough for Dante to finish his fight and help us.

"oh I think you are my dear" he grabbed me by the throat and slammed my body against the wall, my hand automatically went to where his hand was trying to release his grip but it was useless.

"my labrynth was too much for you, I can tell, its taken its toll on the other one as well. And then theres the girl she was stronger than I thought she would be but in the end she broke as well. Now die"

His grip tightned and my eyes began to blur from the loss of oxygen, I could hear Patty wimpering on the ground and the sounds of Dante's fight with his twin going on in the distance. I raised my other hand and tried using my power again but it failed.

"I wont lose" I thought to myself, but it became harder and harder to think straight I was losing conciousness by the second.

"let her go!" I heard Dante's voice echoe in the castle, shortly after a gun shot hit Daemon in the back and he released his grip.

"stop interfering!" the demon shouted back, he sounded like a child.

"I'm your opponant" I said from the ground, I stood up and placed my hands together as if I was praying.

I imagined a sword in my hands its blade shining in the dim light. I heard the demon gasp and Patty step back, and when I opened my eyes again, in my hands I held a katana, Identical to the one I had left behind in my city.I tightened my grip on its hilt and pointed the long blade at the demon who just looked at it dumbfounded.

"how did you do that?" he asked, slightly scared but his nervousness faded quickly.

"no matter, this just got interesting" he said, jumping back as I brought my new weapon down where he had been standing, he laughed when he landed.

"this is going to be fun" he said.

"your just a child arent you?" I asked, he just stared at me.

"you know I thought your labrynth had gotten the best of me, but it seems its just as fake as you are" I said, raising my blade again, this angered the demon because he charged at me faster than before.

"how dare you!" he screamed at me, I stood my ground until he was within reach of my blade then I swung it down again, but every time I did so he jumped back to his original place, this continued for a while until finally I had him cornered.

"you cant run no more" I said, smirking. The demon looked around hopelessly.

"my lord help me" he begged, but his master was occupied elsewhere.

"any last words" I asked, raising my blade.

"wait I know how you can escape" he said quickly, I stopped.

"tell me"

"let me live and I will" another ploy to make me stop, however if he did really know the way out.

"I don't think so" I said finally deciding that the other one could tell us how to leave, we didn't need his help. I swung my sword down and the demon screamed in pain before disappearing into dust.

"finally its over" I said, dropping the sword and falling to my knees. Patty ran up behind me and poked me.


	12. the bells final toll

The two of them fought with everything they had, each unable to live knowing the other existed. It was a spectacular sight to see two men who looked so much alike fighting like this. And while I knew on would be my enemy if he desired, I couldn't bring myself to wish for his death.

"They are brothers, the same blood runs through their veins and yet they fight like they were sworn enemies. What could have happened to these two to tear them apart to the point of hatred?"

This question ran through my mind over and over, but each time I had no answer. They contrasted each other perfectly. Dante was energetic, throwing attacks as his twin without a break, while his brother was slower, only attacking when he knew it would do the most damage all the while dodgin his opponants attacks and maintaining a safe distance from him. Surely before they where mortal enemies they where brothers. I couldn't imagine fighting like this with my twin, she was important to me still even after all she had said and done. We still remained sisters, at least to me anyway. But these two didn't even act like brothers they fought like they had never been brothers.

"Kayla?" Patty's voice was low and full of a mixture of relief and fear.

"it's ok, we'll be out of here soon." I reassured her, she nodded grabbing my hand.

Every time the twins parted, Dante glanced at us obviously making sure we were ok. I nodded at him as they parted once more.

"I think we'll take our leave if you'll give us the key" Dante suggested, pointing the blade of his rebellion at his twin.

"this world will collapse soon" his brother said, calmly. I looked behind me out of the destroyed door and noticed in the distance nothing could be seen it was just black, even the gate we had exited the last room from had gone.

"we don't have time for this!" I shouted to the twins, Dante nodded turning back to vergil.

"how do we leave, brother" he said annoyed, but his twin didn't speak or move, he just stared back at him.

I sighed watching the two, I decided that if they wanted to fight then they should do it back In the real world were we weren't in danger of being killed.

"right you two stop this, immature fighting anf think of a way to get out!" I yelled walking over between them, Dante looked at me surprised and his brother merely looked.

"well!" I said, staring Dante's twin in the eyes.

"while I don't understand why you two want to kill each other, you should continue this later when we are in less danger" I said, walking to towards Vergil, who glared at me.

"what do you think?" I asked spinning round to face Dante, he shrugged.

"your in my way girl." Vergil said behind me.

"if you want me to move tell us how to get out and I will" I said, Dante watched his brother and he must have seen something that surprised him because his expression was priceless.

"there's a bell in the tower, if you destroy it you will be returned to your world" Vergil said finally.

"good, lets go" I headed for the staircase in the centre of the room.

"over here" I heard Dante say, I turned to see him standing in front of a small staircase to the left in the shadows.

"is it up there?"

"think so" Dante answered.

"patty, you stay here" he said turning to the young girl.

"are you sure she shouldn't come with us, she may be in danger down here" I said concerned, Dante shrugged.

"whatever you say"

I smiled and grabbed Patty's hand.

"come with me" I said to her, she followed us up the small stone stairs. The staircase seemed to last forever it spiralled up and up at least five stories or more.

"how far does this thing go?" I asked, looking behind me for Vergil but he wasn't with us.

"we're there!" Dante yelled triumphantly. At the top of the stairs it opened up into a small bell tower in the centre hung a gold bell with the same skull decoration as the smaller one we had in the office, it hung over a whole In the ground which led down to the castle below.

"that's a long way down" I said looking over the barrier that separated us from the drop.

Dante circled the bell, taking in the intricate details.

"well seems easy enough to destroy" he said, finishing his observation. However just as he removed Rebellion from his back the bell began ringing, it was deafening.

"what the hell?" Dante shouted as I covered my ears and backed away from the bell. the bell suddenly stopped ringing as quickly as it had started, and from every direction even from below us in the caslte demons appeared, hundreds of them.

"looks like its not so easy" I said, Dante stood with his back leaning against mine, counting.

"theres at least 50 each" he said, grinning.

"that sounds like a lot" I said, removing my sword from my back where it had attached itself.

"ok Patty stay behind me ok" I said, the girl backed behind me and leant on the barrier between us and the bell.

"lets rock!" Dante shouted and I sighed he was such a dork. These demons weren't as human like as the others we had encounterd they didn't wait for us to attack, they charged us all at once.

"here we go" I whispered to myself, gripping my sword tighter. Beside me I heard gunshots and the clash of metal of flesh as Dante started defeating enemy after enemy.

"that's 12!" he shouted to me. As he cut down another demon with rebellion.

"14!" I shouted back, smirking, this made Dante angry .

"25! Beat that" he shouted after about two minutes.

I had no idea how this had become such a competition but I guess we were more alike than I would like to admit, we both loved a challenge, and competition.

After about ten minutes the room was quiet again, all the enemies defeated.

"57" Dante said, grinning at me.

"ok you win" I answered, holding up my hands in mock surrender.

"now for this thing" he said turning to the bell, he jumped up and swung his sword down but nothing happened.

"what the?" he grabbed his pistols and fired at it but again nothing happened.

"theres a barrier around it" I said, noticing the way it flickered green when something hit it.

"great" Dante moaned.

"how do we get rid of it I wonder" I said, looking around for the source of the barrier. Above the bell, hung a circular jewell, it shone green in the dim light.

"there!" I said triumphantly, pointing toward the jewell.

"what?" Dante asked, following my gaze.

"the jewell, destroy it, I think that's where the barrier originates from"

Dante shrugged and fired ivory in the direction I was pointing, the jewell shattered on impact and the barrier disappeared.

"great shot" I said, grinning at him.

"great observation" he answered back.

"shall we" he said pointing his sword at the bell.

"go ahead" I answered, returning to Patty's side.

"don't have to tell me twice" he answered, raising his sword above his head and swining it down, the bell cracked, but didn't break.

"one more should do it" he told us.

"may I" I asked, I wasn't going to let him get all the glory, Dante looked confused.

"let me do it" I confirmed, he was still staring at me so I removed my sword and pointed it at the bell.

"move out of the way please" I said, Dante shrugged, smirked at me then backed away toward patty.

"thank you" I raised my newly created sword above my head, despite its size it was surprisingly light, but not the least bit weak. I swung the blade down and the bell shattered into a thousand pieces, the force of the blast threw me backwards into Dante who caught me and my sword easily.

"sorry" I said, taking my sword from him.

Before he could answer, a white light filled the room, blinding us all. I covered my eyes, from it and waited for what would happen next.


	13. home sweet home

As the light cleared and we were able to see again, we saw that the castle had disappeared, In its place was the Devil May Cry office, shrouded in darkness. I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the familiar place. Patty collapsed to her knees from the force of her relief, and Dante just grinned and sat down at his desk.

"good to be home" he said, crossing his ankles on the desk and leaning back.

"that's it, that's all you have to say, after all weve just been through?" I wondered how he was relaxed after all that, he was acting as if nothing had happened.

"why?, what do you want me to say?" he asked, I shrugged.

"forget I asked" I said sighing and helping patty up and to the sofa.

"I should get home" she said, quietly.

"can I call my mother?" she sounded exhausted, but at least she wasn't scared anymore.

"sure" I said, retrieving my phone from my pocket.

"here use this" she took the silver phone from me and began tapping on the keys.

"wonder where that bell went" I said, returning to the desk where Dante sat, he shrugged.

"don't know, don't care" he answered.

After about half an hour of sitting around doing nothing, the bell above the door rang, signalling the arrival of a guest. Standing in the doorway, was a blonde woman, she smiled as she entered.

"mother!" Patty shouted, running over to the woman and hugging her tightly.

"hi there, Patty" the woman said hugging the girl back.

"nice to meet you, I'm nina pattys mother" she said turning to me and holding her hand out for me to shake.

"nice to meet you too, I'm Kayla" I shook her hand, and glanced over and Dante but he was pretending if not really asleep.

"well, shall we get going dear" Nina asked her daughter, Patty nodded.

"take care" I said, opening the door for them.

"see you soon, Kay" Patty said grinning, I didn't even notice she had given me a nickname until I had closed the door behind them. I spun round to face Dante, my hands on my hips.

"are you just gonna sleep for the rest of the day!" I shouted across the room, but he didn't even flinch.

"back off, I'm tired arent you?" he said keeping his eyes closed, I hadn't realised how tired I actually was until he had mentioned it.

"I guess so, im going to sleep" I answered, Dante merely waved blindly in my direction. As I climbed the stairs I began to realize just how tired I was, my legs felt like led and my head was heavy. I reached my room and collapsed on the bed, without bothering to close the door behind me. It wasn't long before I drifted of into a deep sleep.

"its warm" I thought as I woke, from my dream. Behind me I heard slow breathing and I froze, just as I thought it was the wind, an arm slid around my waist and pulled me closer to the person behind me. I turned slowly to see Dante lying there, he was fast asleep he actually looked peaceful for once. I thoug about waking him up but when I looked outside it was dark still. However I had no intention of staying here, it was just too close for comfort. I tried to escape without waking him, but his grip was too tight couldn't move all.

"not again" I whispered to myself. As I watched him sleep, Dante stirred moaning in his sleep before finally opening his eyes and staring into mine in confusion.

"why are you in my bed?" he asked me smirking.

"your in mine" I answered, this just made him grin.

"oh really, shall we continue our conversation from earlier" he said, leaning closer.

"I hoped you'd forgotten about that" I said, blushing at the thought.

"well your trapped again" he glanced down at his arm around my waist then back up at my face.

"you cant stay here all day, you'll have to leave at some point." I said defiantly, leaning as far away as I could, under his arm.

"I can trust me" he answered, pulling me even closer.

"the office is empty, patty's gone and no-one is going to disturb us" he said, in a low voice.

"what will it take for you to leave" I asked, but I knew what he would say.

"same condition as before" he answered, I decided to play dumb.

"what was that I forget?" I asked, looking anywhere but into his eyes.

"kiss me" he answered.

"you know this could be classed as sexual harrasment" I retorted, with an evil smile.

"you're the one who crawled into my bed" he answered.

"your in my bed!" I yelled back, he just smirked.

"if you say so"

"your half asleep aren't you" I noticed how he seemed out of it, and not coherent at all.

"maybe, but I know what I'm doing" he leaned in closer, smirking.

"I need to shower" I said, trying to change the subject and distact him.

"is that an offer?"

"you wish!" I shouted, blushing a deeper red.

I considered my options, staying here all day, trying to think of a way to distract him, or kissing him. I didn't really want to stay here all day, and I couldn't think of a way to distract him so that just left the one option.

"if I kiss you, you promise to let me go?" I asked.

"I'm a man of my word" he said placing his free hand on his heart.

"fine, but I;m going to kill you afterwards" I threatened, he just laughed at my feeble attempt to scare him.

"I know im gonna regret this" I whispered to myself as he leant closer to me, I closed my eyes and flinched when I felt his breath on my face.

"you're an idiot" he said, laughing making me jump. I opened my eyes to see him sitting up beside me.

"you really think I'm that kind of person?" he asked, smiling.

"you jerk!" I shouted, throwing the nearest available thing at him, which just so happened to be a pillow.

"what did you actually want me to kiss you?" he stood up and stretched.

"that was the nest night's sleep ive ever had, thanks babe"

"get out!" I threw another pillow at him but he had left before it hit him.

After taking a shower and changing my clothes, I decided to head down to the office even though I knew he would be there. As I walked down the creaky staircase I imagined Dante would be lounging at his desk, smirking to himself. However when I entered the office it was empty, Dante wasn't anywhere to be seen, it was weird to see the place so empty, the past few days someone had always been here if only just me and Dante. The office was kind of creepy when it was empty, it was too quiet so I turned on the jukebox to fill the room with at least some sound. I glanced over at the wall behind Dante's desk and noticed all the different weapons that hung there. It was quite an impressive collection, one I particular took my eye, a purple guitar, at least it looked like a guitar anyway.

"I wonder" I edged closer to it, taking in the incredible details.

"I wouldn't do that" I heard Dante's voice from behind me and jumped.

"nevan's not very people friendly" he continued, placing a pizza box on the desk and grabbing a slice.

"who's nevan?"

"that's nevan" he pointed to the guitar.

"you named your guitar"

"no. that's her name, she's a devil arm. Which means the soul of a demon lies within the guitar. Anyway its not only a guitar you know, she's a very powerful weapon as well" Dante sat at his desk as he was talking, taking a bite of his pizza after every sentence.

"right, so are all of these the same?" I asked, pointing to the wall of weapons.

"pretty much" he answered, he seemed to have forgotten what had happened earlier so I decided not to ask, at least not yet I needed to calm down some more first.

"hungry?" Dante asked, pushing the pizza bos toward me.

"starving" I answered, grabbing a slice and sitting In the chair opposite his desk.

"so where were you just now"

"getting pizza, why where did you think I was?, where you worried about me?"

"yeah right" I finished my slice, and grabbed another.

"hey don't eat it all" Dante moaned, moving the box away from me.

"theif, don't take it away" I argued, holding back laughter.

"too late" he said, with his mouth full of food.

"you ate it all?, you pig" I yelled, but he just laughed.

"what I'm a growing boy" he said, grinning.

"if you grow anymore you'll hit your head on the door" I answered, standing and taking the pizza box and placing it in the bin.

"I thought you were supposed to be cleaning my office" Dante said suddenly, I spun round placing my hands on my hips.

"yeah well, that was just to make you let me stay" I answered, sticking my tongue out at him.

"oh really, well the brooms over there." he said, smirking totally ignoring my statement.

"no thanks, I'll pass" I hadn't noticed until now how totally comfortable I was with him, I felt like I could tell him anything, and it scared me that I felt that way. I never trusted anyone except my family, but after my parents died and I felt abandoned by everyone else.I told myself I didn't need to trust anyone other than myself, and that feeling continued to this day, even after being forgiven by my twin and Christian I still couldn't let it now this man, this total stranger, had made me trust him it angered me slightly but more than anything I was afraid that I would be abandoned or betrayed.

"erm, why didn't you kiss me earlier?" I asked, surprising myself, Dante looked up at me as surprised as I was.

"why did you want me to?" he said standing and walking towards me.

"no, I just, I was." I stuttered.

"you were shaking" he said, stopping a few feet from me.

"when I leant in you were shaking, you were afraid" he continued.

"I….was…..shaking?" I asked in disbelief, he nodded slowly.

"you still are" he continued walking towards me. I looked at my hands and was shocked to see indeed I was shaking.

"but why, I'm not scared" I said this knowing I was afraid, but I couldn't tell why, it wasn't Dante, I mean yes he's intimidating at times but I wasn't scared of him.

"don't worry" he said, making me look up and into his blue eyes.

"don't be scared" he reassured me, and I felt safe again, but the fear of being betrayed was still there. He stood close to me but I felt like he was miles away, we were In two different leagues. I didn't even come close to being on the same level as him, but something deep in my heart wished I could be. I wanted to be able to let someone else in again but feared the consiquences that would mean.

"don't be afraid anymore" his voice was soft and close. He put his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close, hugging me gently. I gasped in surprise, blushing at how close he was.

"you don't have to be alone you know" he whispered.


	14. history

"so tell me about your life" Dante said, curiously. As we sat opposite one another at his desk, I looked up from my notebook and frowned at him.

"you wanna know about my life?" I asked, surprised, he nodded.

"why?" I asked suspiciously, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"alright I guess, where do I start" I began.

"at the start would be good" Dante grinned at his own joke.

"really I never would have thought of that" I said sarcastically.

"well my father was a demon, my mother was human. As you know I was born half and half and my sister was born human. My mother was a very strong woman, even though she was human she was incredibly adept in black magic. My father was a master swords man and a great warrior. Together they ruled the great city of Rayar as their king and queen."

"you're a princess?" Dante raised his eyebrows, holding back laughter.

"yes" I said, glaring at him.

"because of my parents being the rulers me and my twin where trained in combat from a young age, I was trained in swordsmanship and black magic. My twin however believed more in learning how to be a leader and a good person instead, we where very much the opposite from each other.

"sounds like me and my twin" Dante said.

"if you want to know about me then stop talking" I said annoyed. I hated being ignored and interrupted.

"fine" he shrugged and sat back In his chair.

"when we were both fifteen, my mother died of an illness, no-one knew what it was and she couldn't be cured, shortly after, my mother died, there was a war on the outskirts of our city. My father went out to defend the city, but he never returned. He was killed on the battle field, despite being the most skilled swordsman in the city, he was no match for the demons the other army had fighting for them. After my parents died my sister being the older twin, took over the throne and ruled, she was an awesome queen, so kind and generous but also able to keep the city under control and peaceful. After my sisters 1st year of being queen there was another war, this time with the cuty to the west of us. And that's when I became known as a demon, I saved the city from certain distruction however the people began to hate and fear my power. I spent so long being hated by them that I eventually hated them back. I hated all humans including my sister, I thought she had sided with the people and feared me as well, so one night I confronted her. But unfortunately I lost my temper and I ended up fatally injuring my twin. What you have to understand about me is that I cant control my power when I get angry and its always disastrous when I do lose my temper. Anyway, I hurt my sister and as punishment for that sin. The man who loved my sister dearly killed me with his own two hands."

"that's not possible your still here" Dante said, looking confused.

"let me finish please" I said, quietly.

"my twin spent ten years after that, looking for a way to revive me, and eventually she found a way, however it required her to become a demon and to give me her human life. Which she did gladly, and they revived me. But I couldn't stay in the city for fear of losing it again and hurting anyone I loved again so I left, them. And that's when I ended up here in this city. And after spending half a year here I found your office."

"that's some life story" he said.

"so do you hate demons is that why you fight them?" he said, quietly.

"is that so wrong?, of course I don't hate my sister or my father though"

"so you don't hate them because their family?" he asked, looking down at the desk.

"is that wrong?" I asked looking up at him, he shook his head.

"no."

"did I say something wrong?" I asked, he looked down somehow, like he was upset by my words.

"no its not what you said" he answered, standing from his desk.

"I'll be back" he said walking to the door, that separated the office from his apartment. I sat there a while, wondering if he was ok, and when he didn't return after ten minutes I decided to find out where he was. I walked through the door and found him sitting on the stairs.

"are you ok?" I asked him, he just moved over for me to sit next to him, I did so but he didn't look at me.

" you know I'm a demon as well" he said quietly.

"your only half demon" I corrected him smiling, but he still didn't look at me.

"I'm not human, I'm not a demon." he said, he looked so sad I felt the urge to make him feel better.

"you are human" I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"ive never met anyone who's more human than you" I said, quietly at this he looked at me surprised.

"it doesn't matter what you are by birth, your human right now" I grinned at him, and he smiled back.

"your really child like you know that?" he said rustling my hair.

"hey don't mess up my hair" I complained causing him to laugh, I laughed with him and we sat there in silence for what seemed like an was amazing how easy he was to be around, it was simple to be with him he was so trust worthy.


	15. kidnapped

I stood outside devil may cry staring up at the roof, above me what seemed to be my twin stood. She watched me carefully, motionless, silent.

"come down here!" I shouted at her, but she didn't move.

"why wont you talk to me?" I yelled, she looked as if she was going to jump down to me, but instead she ran the other way and disappeared into the night. Inside the office was dark, Dante had gone somewhere, I had no idea where. I was alone, standing in darkness staring up at an empty roof, in silence.

"why?" I whispered to myself.

"where? And when? Are good questions as well, young lady" a voice echoed in the empty street and I spun round. Standing before me was a man about my height, and slim. He wore and black suit and silver glasses, his waist length black hair was tied in a ribbon behind him.

"who are you?" I asked him, cautiously.

"my name is Kalen, it's a pleasure" he said bowing.

"what do you want?" I enquired, there was something about him that made me nervous but I couldn't tell what it was exactly.

"its courtesy to tell someone your name before you ask questions" he said, annoyed.

"my name's Kayla, what do you want from me?" the man before me smiled, and gestured to the office behind me.

"is the devil hunter in?" his voice was soft but it held a cruel edge to it.

"no." I said simply.

"what a shame" the man walked toward me slowly, keeping his hands clasped behing his back, I backed up to the door. Feeling more nervous by the second.

"do no fear, my dear I wont hurt you…..yet" that last word had me grabbing my sword from my back and pointing it at him.

"that will do you no good" the man said, grinning.

"you don't seem to know the situation which you are in, my dear"

"back off demon!" I shouted at him.

"how rude, although you are right I am indeed a demon, how observant of you" he continued walking as he spoke until he was only the length of my sword away from me.

"put down your weapon, and I shall go easy on you" he said, pushing the blade aside.

"don't underestimate me" I warned, the man sighed and gripped my blade with his hand, blood ran down the length of the blade but he didn't release it he just closed his eyes. And as he did so his blood began sparking with electricity. It made it so that I couldn't hold it anymore, I dropped the blade and gripped my hand where it had shocked me.

"that was just a taste, come quietly and you wont have to see my true power." the demon said, picking up my blade from the pavement and looking over it curiously.

"give me that back" I said, angry.

"come with me and I will" he said, smiling at my attempt to act tough.

"I said give it back!" I shouted, holding my hand palm forward toward the demon and filling it with my energy, I released the bolt straight at the demons head but he dodged it easily.

"wow, bad girl" the demon said, landing directly in front of me.

"looks like your going to be fun" he said placing his hands on my shoulders, I felt a shock of electricity stronger than the one before, and my body went limp I couldn't move.

"do you want to stay conscious?" he asked me, I just glared at him from the ground and he took it as a no, he bent down and shocked me again. The last thing I saw was his evil smile, before everything went black and I lost conciousness.

I opened my eyes to reveal a dark cave, I couldn't see anything. I tried to move my arms but they where chained above my head on the wall behind me, my legs too where chained. I struggled but couldn't break free.

"where am I?" I whispered, trying to remember how I had gotten here.

"so your awake" a familiar voice echoed in the darkness, before the demon lit the candles hanging on the walls, revealing that it wasn't a cave afterall it was a dungeon across the room, the demon stood grinning at me.

"where am I ?" I asked, my head still spinning.

"my home" the demon answered.

"you know this weapon is extremely interesting." he said holding up my sword.

"what do you want from me?" I asked, glaring at the man before me.

"what do you think?" he asked walking towards me.

"Dante is a problem in my world he needs to be exterminated and you are the key to doing that"

"you really think he's going to try to save me?" I yelled at him.

"he's not that stupid" I couldn't believe he would risk anything for me, yes we where friends but only that and anyway he had no idea where we were.

"I left a note for him, he knows where we are" the demon said as if reading my mind.

"he wont come, and anyway what makes you think I need his help?" I was determined to save myself and prove that I didn't need to rely on anyone anymore.

"oh he will, he'll come. He'll fight. And then he'll die" I shook my head, and tried to move my arms enough to use my power but they wouldn't budge.

"don't worry, your paralised" the demon said, standing inches from me.

"you cant move even if you weren't chained, my power isn't only to shock you but it paralises my opponent as well, it comes it wuite handy don't you think" he leaned forward as he spoke.

"stay away from me, or I'll…"

"you'll what you cant even move, are you going to talk me to death?" the demon glared at me.

By this time I had realised it was hopeless, I couldn't move.

"don't you want to help me?" the demon asked, innocently. I shook my head quickly.

"what a shame" he said.

"let me down" I said, a little more quiet than I wanted.

"what did you say?" the demon asked, leaning closer to my mouth.

"let me go" I repeated, but the demon just laughed.

"no. your going to help me whether you want to or not" he said, smirking.

"I wont" I retorted defiantly, the demon shook his head and stepped back from me. He studied me completely making me feel very nervous and uncomfortable.

"what do you say, shall we have a bit of fun before, your hero arrives?" he gave me an evil smile before stepping close to me again.

"st…stay away from me" I stuttered, but the man ignored me. He was taller than me even though I was off the ground, he stared down at me and smiled again.

"your shaking" he said, laughing he seemed to be enjoying making me nervous. He lifted my face up to his and looked into my eyes, the evil behind his green eyes was obvious. He leaned in so that our noses brushed.

"s..stop it" I said, trying to turn my head away but failed. He smirked again and kissed me roughly.

"interesting" he said as he pulled away, he started laughing at my terrified expression. He ran his hand along the length of my arm until he reached my hand and then back down to my neck.

"your skin is so soft" he whispered in my ear, by now I was frozen with fear and surprise. I had given into the fact that I couldn't escape but this was too much for me to handle I had never been in a situation like this before so I had no idea how to stop it.

"p..please let me go"I managed.

"no way your too much fun" the demon said, running his hand up the outside of my leg and wrapping his arm around my waist.

"s..stop!" I yelled suddenly getting some of my energy back but It faded just as quickly. He grinned and kissed me again silencing the next out burst.

"I wonder why he hasn't done this yet?" the demon asked me pulling back but keeping his arm around my waist.

"maybe he's afraid to" he said.

"Dante's not afraid of anything!" I shouted, I felt the need to defend the absent demon hunter even though I knew he would've just laughed at me for doing so.

"oh I think he is" the man said.


	16. rescue

"you know it was a pain in the ass, to find this place!" Dante's voice echoed through the dungeon, and the demon turned from, facing the direction it had come from and I couldn't help but feel relieved that he had actually come to help me.

"what kind of bastard would kidnapp a young girl for no apparent reason?" he shouted a he appeared in the light, he held ebony in one hand and rebellion in the other.

"why Dante how nice of you to join us" the demon smiled, pointing _my _sword at him.

"that doesn't belong to you now does it?" Dante asked, glancing over at me.

"no but it will be enough to kill you" the demon said, raising it above his head, the blade shone blue and began to shake uncontrollably.

"seems the sword doesn't like you" Dante said, firing his gun but the demon dodged one of the bulltes hit the chains holding me up and I dropped to the ground.

"you ok!" he shouted, as he fired again.

"I think so" I answered rubbing my wrists, I could move again but it was hard I was still parcially paralised. I tried to stand but failed.

"I'll be with you in a second!" Dante yelled, firing again this time he hit his target and the demon groaned in pain.

"ive got you now!" Dante yelled as the demon crashed to the ground, in pain.

"tell me why you took Kayla" Dante asked, bending down to the demons level, it sounded as if he was asking why someone had stolen his car or something.

"to kill you" the demon answered.

"not good enough" dante said, draggin the demon off the ground and grabbing the chains that had once held me.

"lets see how you like being tied up" Dante said as he chained the demon to the wall, but he didn't stop there he took a few steps back and ran his rebellion through the demons chest and left it there, the demon screamed in pain.

"you ok?" he asked me, I nodded.

"can you stand?" I shook my head.

"no, I don't think so" I answered, behind Dante the demon, was slowly losing its life.

"why didn't you just kill him?" I asked, it wasn't like Dante to torture something like this even one as twisted as this demon was.

"I don't know, guess he just pissed me off" he answered.

"wait here" he said as he walked off toward the demon again.

"you dead?" the demon, didn't move.

"guess he's dead already" Dante sounded slightly annoyed, he removed his sword replaced it on his back and returned to me.

"ok, lets get you home" he said.

"I still cant move, that guy paralised me" I complained, attempting to stand but I failed yet again.

"no worries" Dante said, he bent down and picked me up making me blush.

"now then, home" he said, smiling at me, as we left the dungeon I had a strange feeling of relief and happyness that he had saved me, but I was also annoyed at myself over not having the strength to help myself.

"I'm sorry" Dante's voice was low as he carried me back to his car outside the building I had been held in.

"why?" I asked, confused.

"for putting you in danger, I realise now it was a mistake to let you stay in the office" he said.

"wait are you breaking up with me?" I said laughing, but his expression caused me to stop.

"I think its better if you live somewhere else, I can still help you with your sister from the office. But its safer for you if you stay elsewhere" we reached the car and he put me down gently.

"but arent I safer with you?" I asked, I couldn't believe he was kicking me out. He shook his head, unlocked the car and jumped in silently shutting the door behind him. I followed him into the car but he didn't speak again until we were back in front of the office.

"it was my decision to come here, I'm ok with the danger" I said, in my opinion it was a very convincing argument, its not as if he had dragged me to his office I had drove there myself, I knew the danger when I started out and I didn't care about it.

"I know, but its my responsibility to make sure your safe while your under my roof" he opened the doors to the office and held them open for me.

"I can take care of myself" I argued.

"I saw that" he said referring to the earlier incident.

"that was nothing, I was caught off guard, it wont happen again" why was I trying so hard to stay here, I could stay any number of places, why did I choose to stay here with him?.

"no it wont, because your not staying here any longer" he sounded angry but I could see in his face he wasn't, he was trying to start a fight with me so I would leave.

"I'm not leaving" I said, sitting on the sofa and crossing my legs.

"you are" he sat down beside me.

"how are you going to go home to your family and friends if your dead?" he asked me, my face dropped to the floor.

"your not safe here and I think you know it" Dante said, it was true that I knew I wasn't safe around him, what with all the demons that wanted to kill him and the constant threat of an attack, but it was also true that I trusted him with my life, enough to know he would save me if I needed.

"am I in the way?" I asked, still looking down.

"no. I'm just trying to keep you safe, long enough for you to complete your goal" he made it sound like, he wouldn't care what happened to me after that.

"even if I did leave, I bet most of them already now I'm staying here and what I look like so how would I be any safer alone?"

"you would, if you cut all ties with me, you'll be safer"

"most demons arent that merciful" I argued, but he was set on his decision.

"its better this way" he said, standing.

"so that's it, your kicking me out?" I shook my head.

"no!, I'm not leaving, and you cant make me" I turned away from him, pretending to find something interesting in the other direction.

"I'm going to convince you am I?" he asked me, I shook my head still looking away, he sighed.

"what will it take for you to see it my way?" he said turning me to face him.

"I never will, I'm not leaving"

"so you keep saying"

" look if you hate me being here and you don't want anything to do with me anymore, then fine I'll leave. But if its just because you think I'm not safe here then its not good enough, like I said I can take care of myself most of the time"

"I don't hate you living here, your annoying at times but I don't hate you" he said,

"well then, looks like I'm staying then doesn't it?" I smiled at him, but he didn't return it.

"your very childish you know that" Dante went to sit at his desk, leaving me where I was. It seemed like he had given up on trying to make me leave finally.

"I havent given up" he if he'd read my mind.

"maybe not today but someday soon you'll realise your safer away from me" I sighed, and walked over to the desk, leaning on it I grinned at him.

"don't hold your breath" I said.

"looks like your stuck with me" I said, sticking my tongue out at Dante, he just shook his head and sighed.

"guess so, although that's not so bad"

"I like living here any how its interesting" I grinned at him and sat on the desk facing the door.

"besides being here is the first time ive felt at home since I left my home town" and it was true I did feel at home here, even though I hadn't known Dante that long it felt like I had known him all my life.

"anyway its your turn to be kidnapped next" I turned to grin at him and he laughed back.

"yeah right, id like to see them try" he said.

"thanks" I said, suddenly without looking at him.

"what for?" he asked confused.

"for saving me, I never really thanked you before, so thank you" I looked down at the ground, feeling nervous and uncomfortable, I heard his chair move behind me, but didn't move.

"no problem kid" he said, rustling my hair.

"I'm starving want to get something to eat?" he asked, grabbing his coat from the hook behind his desk.

"yeah sure" I said, blushing as my stomach rumbled in response.

"sounds like your hungry" Dante said laughing.

"wait do you actually have any money?" I asked remembering the fact that he was supposedly broke.

"yeah of course I do, not a lot but I have some" he answered, acting offended.

"alright, I was just asking" I raised my hands in mock surrender.

"lets go in your car" Dante said, his face lighting up as he saw it parked outside the office.

"whats wrong with yours, and anyway how far are we going, do we need to drive?"

"we're not going far. Come on your cars way cooler than mine" he said.

"ok fine, but your paying if it gets damaged" I gave in, but there was no way I was going to let him drive. He stood there hand held out for the keys looking expectant.

"you are not driving my car" I said, unlocking the doors.

"why?" he asked.

"because its mine, you wanna drive take your own car" I got into the drivers seat and closed the door carefully.

"fine" Dante said as he climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door closed.

"be careful will you!" I complained, hoping it hadn't damaged my car.

"you really love this car don't ya?" he asked, as I started it up.

"of course I do, have you seen it, its perfect"

"ok, calm down" he said, noticing how I was way too enthusiastic about it.

"ok where are we going?" I asked, pulling away from the office.

"your navigator" I said.

"turn left here" Dante said.

We drove for about five minutes before we reached the diner where we were headed.

"you made me drive for that" I said annoyed.

"we could have walked it quicker"

"whatever" Dante said entering the diner, I followed him locking the car behind me.

"welcome back Dante, who's your friend?" a young woman, on roller skates and dressed in a pink uniform asked.

"this is Kayla, my…"

"friend" I cut him off before he introduced me as his cleaner again.

"nice to meet you, I'm jenna, so your usual?" the girl asked.

"yeah, bring one for her as well" Dante answered, smiling.

"I have a name" I said angry as the girl rolled away with her notebook.

"yeah so" Dante laughed at my expression and I heard the girl giggling in the back of the diner.

"now look what you did she's laughing at me"

"no. its both of you. The way you are with each other your like a married couple" the young woman returned with a tray with two strawberry sundaes on it.

"what? No we're just friends" I said quickly embarrassed.

"yeah friends" Dante said ,just as embarrassed as I was, the girl giggled.

"I was joking, enjoy" she said and rolled away again.

"ice cream, really?" I was surprised at the fact that a grown man, let alone the great devil hunter Dante would eat strawberry sundaes for dinner.

"yeah so?" he said, taking a bite.

"its good, try it" he pointing his spoon at me and nodded.

"ok fine" I said.

"your right, its is good" I said, after a while.


	17. Christian

As I sat there opposite Dante in the diner, my mind wondered back to Rayar where my sister waited for me to return. But no matter how many times I thought, my mind always conjured up Christian's face, his confused look as I told him I was leaving and his smile when he told me he had forgiven me. But most of all the warmth of his arms around me, nothing compared to the feeling of complete happiness I got when he had hugged me goodbye.

"Hey, don't space out on me" Dante's voice broke my concentration.

"Sorry" I said, quietly.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked me.

"Christian" I said it without thinking, and I regretted it seeing the interested look on his face.

"Who's Christian, your boyfriend?" he said, smirking.

"No!. I mean he's the man who loves my sister, he's the one who delivered my punishment" I retrieved the photo of the three of us out of my pocket.

"Here, this is me, my sister and Christian" I said. Dante studied the photo.

"You two really are identical" he said.

"And this guy's Christian?" he asked, I nodded. He was indeed handsome, his blonde hair and blue eyes couldn't be compared.

"You look happy" Dante said, passing the photo back to me.

"I was, those where the happiest times of my life" I answered, a small smile appearing on my face as I stared at the photograph.

"He looks like a good man" Dante said, finishing his sundae.

"He is, but he loves my sister"

"And that's a problem because?" I leaned back in my chair, sighing.

"Because all I ever wanted was for him to…." I trailed off.

"You love him don't you?" Dante asked, a serious look on his face. I nodded silently.

"I can't help it"

"Love is a hard thing to go through sometimes" he said, folding his arms on the table.

"Yeah. But I decided I was ok with him not loving me back" Dante looked confused.

"You don't care?"

"I do, but if he's happy with my sister then I can deal with it" I leant my head on my hand.

"He's one of the reasons I left home." I said, quietly.

"I couldn't handle it, I was too jealous of her, it would have ruined our relationship."

"You wanted what was best for her?, despite how you felt that's amazing I'm not sure I could do that" Dante sat back in his chair and sighed.

"But you know the best way to get over a past love is too love again" he said, smirking at me.

"He's not a past love…I still love him" I said slowly. Dante sighed again.

"Did you tell him how you feel?" he asked. I nodded slowly.

"But then I left, I just ran away from it, I'm such a coward"

"You're not a coward" Dante said standing.

"Let's go" he said, offering me his hand.

"Ok" I smiled at him.

"You're definitely not a coward" he said again, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"You're very brave, kid" he said, rustling my hair.


	18. fight

"So what was his answer when you told him you loved him?" Dante asked as we drove back to the office.

"He apologized and said he loved my sister, I suppose I should have given up on him then but i couldn't" I answered, keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead.

"Oh, so he didn't love you back?"

"No. I already told you he loved my sister, weren't you listening to me?" I looked away from the road for a second to see his expression and he looked way to serious to me.

"Let's not talk about it anymore" I said, returning my eyes to the road.

"Why not?" he asked me. I stopped the car outside the office and got out without answering his question.

"Hey don't ignore me" he shouted from behind me as i opened the office doors.

"Kayla, what's wrong?"Dante grabbed my arm stopping me in my tracks, in the middle of the office.

"Nothing" I answered, even though I felt like I wanted to cry, and break something at the same time.

"Tell me" he said, I shook my head looking down at the floor.

"It's nothing" I said quietly.

"He's not much of a guy if he's causing you this much pain" Dante said, i pulled my arm free, and spun round on him.

"Don't talk about him like that!" I shouted, before running up to my room and slamming the door behind me. I sat against the door, my head leaning on my knee's tears running down my face. I was crying because I wanted to forget Christian, or at least I didn't want to love him anymore.

"Kayla" I heard Dante's voice outside the door.

"Kayla I'm sorry" he said, banging on the door which vibrated against my back.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted back, not wanting him to see me crying.

"Come on, I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" his voice softened as he spoke. But I didn't answer.

"Look all I was saying... you know what forget what I was saying, go ahead and sulk" he said, I heard footsteps heading away from my door and breathed a sigh of relief. After five minutes I decided to go and wash my face to make me feel better. I quietly opened the door and pulled it toward me, but as I did Dante fell backwards at my feet. He was fast asleep.

"That idiot" I whispered as I stepped over him and went to the bathroom, when I returned Dante was gone and my door was closed. I opened it carefully, hoping he had just given up and left. However when I opened the door completely Dante was standing on the other side with his arms folded. He grabbed my hand and pulled my inside, closing the door behind us.

"Forgive me?" he said, I leant against the door folded my arms and shook my head.

"I'm sorry" he said taking a step towards me.

"How about now?" He asked again, once again I shook my head. He took another step.

"I'm sorry, I can keep this up all day" he said.

"Forgive me"

"No!" I shouted, he bridged the gap between us and leant his arm above my head on the door.

"Forgive me"

"No" I said blushing slightly.

"Why not?" he asked, taking me by surprise.

"Because I...that is...I..."

"You don't know do you"

"Why can't you just let me sulk for a night, without being in my face all the time" I said angrily, he stepped Back slightly at my sudden outburst.

"Fine then, sulk if that's what you want" he said, leaving.

"idiot" I said, under my breath.


	19. make up

After Dante left me to my own devices, I lay on the bed sulking with my head under my pillow. Downstairs I could hear the music louder than it ever had been it was rather annoying.

"Turn it down!" I shouted, sitting up on the bed. But instead of it going down it just got louder in response. I sighed and stood from the bed.

"Turn it down!" I yelled as I entered the office again. Dante was lying on the sofa his ankles crossed.

"Hey you!" I shouted, walking over to the sofa, he didn't move so I leaned over him.

"Wake up!" he opened his eyes and glared at me.

"What?" he asked angrily.

"Turn your music down" I answered, returning his glare.

"There's a little word you're forgetting" he said.

"P l e a s e" he spelt the word out then smirked at me.

"Turn it down" I said slowly.

"Yes your majesty" he said, standing and bowing.

"That's better" I sat down where Dante had been lying earlier.

"Have you calmed down yet?" he asked me, sitting beside me.

"I guess so"

"Well?" he grinned at me.

"S...sorry" I whispered.

"What did you say, I couldn't hear you" he said, leaning closer to me.

"Sorry" I said louder.

"That's it?"

"I over reacted I'm sorry" I looked away from him.

"I forgive you" he rustled my hair before standing.

"I think I'd like to meet your family, they sound interesting" he said, laughing.

"Your serious?" I asked, he nodded.

"Where are they anyway?"

"In the next city over, it's about a three hour drive from here"

"Three hours? Your serious" he sounded really surprised but he was just putting it on, it was entertaining to watch though.

"Uh huh" I said laughing.

"It's good to see you happy again, I really am sorry about upsetting you" he said smiling.

"Why do you care if I'm happy or not?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Well, we're friends" he said simply.


	20. trip

That night I dreamt of Christian. It was the first time I met him; my parents hired him to be my Sister's and my guard. He was two years older than us however we soon became good friends, the three of us spent hours together. In my dream, I saw him enter the palace on that first day, his golden hair shone in the light, and his eyes sparkled it was clear he was excited to be in the palace.

"Girls, this is Christian he will be your guard from now on" my mother, had said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both princesses" he bowed to us, smiling. At first I disliked him mostly because he had called me Lady Kayla since we met, a title which I hated because I wanted to be treated like a normal girl.

Over the weeks, we became friends though, despite our friendship he still insisted on calling us by our titles, which annoyed me completely. For a long time we were just friends and we acted like it, but eventually it came time for him to perform his duty as our guard. Because of my stupidity, me and my twin found ourselves in a sticky situation with some thugs. Out of nowhere he appeared and interfered, he managed to fight them off even though they were bigger than him however he was hurt in the process, my sister went to get help, leaving me and him alone, I was still shaking. And despite his injuries he still reassured me.

"It's ok, you're safe now princess" he said softly, as he lay with his head on my lap. It was then that I fell in love with him, and I didn't care anymore about him calling me princess because coming from him it sounded wonderful.

I woke up, tears filling my eyes.

"Idiot" I whispered to myself, I found the picture of the three of us in my bag and stared at it. My mind went back to those days I spent with the two of them, laughing and just having fun. The days before anything happened to change it, before I shattered that happy world and forced myself out of their lives. Lying on the table next to the bed was my notebook, filled with all the things I was going to tell them should I ever return, but that dream seemed to be getting further and further away. Even after nearly two years I still hadn't mastered my power or been able to control my anger, I hadn't done anything I said I would, I hadn't even wrote them a letter or gave them a phone call.

"I'm a coward" I whispered to myself, sighing. I was too much of a coward to face them again because of my guilt, but also because I couldn't face being rejected again by Christian or the city and its people, they still hated me although they had no idea I was still alive they thought I had died, but as soon as they saw me they would know who I was, there was no doubt about that. It was all Dante's fault I was thinking about going home, he had said he wanted to meet them and now I couldn't get the thought out of head.

"Damn him!" I said a little too loudly, I heard Dante walk past my door as I said it but he didn't stop so I figured he hadn't heard me, luckily.

"Good morning" I said as I entered the office.

"Morning" Dante said, turning on the jukebox.

"Good morning Kayla" Nero said, from Dante's desk.

"Outta my seat kid!" Dante shouted across the room, Nero just smirked at him.

"Alright old man calm down" Nero retorted, standing and laughing.

"Are you sure you two aren't related?" I asked, they turned in unison and glared at me.

"Sorry" I said raising my hands in surrender.

"No we are not related" Dante said.

"You know you said you wanted to meet my family" i said, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Yeah" Dante said from behind me.

"Well do you still want to?" i turned to look at him.

"you serious" he looked so surprised it was almost funny, i nodded.

"yeah, why not, i figured i should be fine if i'm not alone" i was going to say _if your with me _but it sounded wrong.

"oh, sure why not should be fun" he said grinning at me.

"What about me?" Nero asked.

"don't worry kid I'll bring you back a souvenir"

"sorry did you want to come as well?" i asked, turning back to the young man at Dante's desk.

"it sounds like fun" he said.

"why don't you come with us then" i said, i heard Dante groan behind me.

"you don't mind do you?" i asked him, Dante just mumbled something and left the room.

"looks like its sorted then, it might actually be better if there's two of us to keep him under control" i said gesturing to the door Dante had left through.

"yeah" Nero said laughing.

"well then, i guess we should decide when we are going"


	21. the princesses city

"Ok let's go!" Dante said, happily.

"What now?" I asked.

"Of course, no time like the present" he replied.

"Ok, but you'll have to give me some time to pack some things" Dante frowned.

"Girls" he said, shaking his head. I left to pack, and Dante sighed as I left.

"Guess I should get some stuff as well, I'll meet you outside in twenty. Ok" I heard Nero say as I opened my bedroom door. After packing my bag, and changing my clothes, I went back down to the office to find Dante sitting at his desk.

"Bout time" he said, standing.

"Well, I had to make sure I had everything I needed." I replied, dropping my bag on the desk.

"Nero said he'll meet us outside, but I say we ditch the kid and go now" Dante smirked.

"Nice try" I said, picking my bag back up and leaving the office.

Outside Nero was leaning on the bonnet of my car.

"Get your butt off my car" I said, playfully.

"Are you ready? Let's go" he replied.

"Just a second" Dante said, turning to lock the doors of his office.

"Ok let's go" he turned back to us and grinned.

"This should be interesting" I said to myself, as I got into my car and placed my bag on the backseat next to Nero.

"Everybody ready?" I asked. Dante nodded.

"Yeah let's go" Nero said, happily.

After about an hour of Dante flicking through station after station on the radio I finally snapped.

"Stop that! It's annoying" I glared at him briefly before returning my eyes to the road.

"Sorry" he replied.

"Are we there yet?" he complained.

"Not yet, about another hour away" I sighed.

"I thought you said three hours earlier?" Nero said from the backseat.

"Yeah well, I'm driving a little faster than most people that was just an estimate" I said, grinning at him in the rear view mirror, he shook his head and grinned back.

"Eyes on the road" Dante said.

"Yeah yeah I know" I complained.

We drove for another hour before the city was in sight.

"See that, that's my city" I said, triumphantly. The gates stood four storeys high and where carved with intricate details.

"Wow, that's some entrance" Dante said, whistling.

"It is isn't it" I replied, I slowed as the gates approached and the guard towers on either side, became visible.

"I'll handle it" I said as I got out of the car and approached the window in the tower's base.

"Erm hi my name is..."

"Lady Kayla!" the man behind the window exclaimed.

"Yes, err I would like to see my sister would it be possible for me and my companions to enter." I said politely.

"Of course my Lady, please let me open the gate" the young man still seemed surprised and a little scared but he opened the gate anyway.

"ok all taken care of" I said as I got back into the car, as we drove forward into the city I had once called home, behind us another car pulled up, I looked back to see a jeep with a blonde man sitting in the front next to him a dark haired man in green sat. The two in the back where arguing animatedly.

"This place sure is popular" Nero said, watching the car behind us.

"Of course" I said, as if it was obvious.

"Ok, I guess we should go to the palace first then I'll show you guys around" I decided, driving down the straight street which led directly to the palace at the centre of the city.

"That place was your home?" Nero said, in awe. Before us the white palace stood its four towers stood high above the city.

"Yeah it was" I answered. We stopped outside the gates to the palace staring at the two guards, before us.

"Stop!" they shouted as I got out of the car.

"Wait!" one of the guards said.

"Aren't you Lady Kayla?" he asked, walking toward me. I nodded, silently.

"It's you" he said, bowing to me.

"My Lady forgive me, I did not recognise you"

"It's ok, may we enter?" I returned his bow.

"Yes of course" he exclaimed. I returned to the car and the gates opened.

Driving into the palace courtyard it was as if I had never left. The place hadn't changed.

"Ok, here we go" I parked the car in the courtyard, and got out.

"Wonder where everyone is" I wondered to myself, locking the car and walking toward the palace entrance.

"This place is amazing" Nero said, grinning.

We entered through the huge doors to see the throne room, it was huge with columns lining the walls. I walked down the centre of them, staring at the empty throne.

"Wow" Dante said, whistling.

"Just stay close and you won't get lost" I said looking over my shoulder at the two. As I turned back to the throne there she was, my sister.

"Kayla!" my twin shouted, standing and running toward me.

"Kate" she hugged me tightly.

"You look different from your picture" Dante said, behind me.

"Yes well, she's ten years older than me now, it took her ten years to revive me, and so she is older than me" I confirmed as I my sister stared behind me at the two devil hunters.

"They are my friends, Nero and Dante" I said, pointing to the two, they both smiled and nodded in response.

"It's nice to see you're not alone" my sister said, smiling.

"How have you been?" I asked her.

"There hasn't been a day when I haven't thought of you dear. I missed you so much, but I've been well. She answered, hugging me again.

"Come we have so much to talk about" she said, taking my hand and leading me into the meeting room behind the throne room, Dante and Nero followed silently behind us.

"So how have you been?, what have you been doing with yourself?" my sister asked, as we sat at the table with drinks in front of us.

"Calm down. I've been good, I've been living with Dante for some time now. And I have a job too" I answered she grinned at me looking very interested.

"Well go on, what do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I err, I'm a demon hunter" I said finally, expecting her to recoil but her expression didn't change.

" So have you forgiven yourself yet?" she asked, her face turning more serious. I nodded silently.

"Lying to me won't help" she said, tilting her head.

"Sorry" I said, smiling slightly.

The two silver haired men were silently listening beside me.

"My Lady, why are you in the meeting room?" A familiar voice, said as a blonde man opened the door.

"My Lady..." he trailed off as he stared at me.

"Kayla" he whispered, stopping in his tracks.

"Christian" I said, standing, beside me Dante stood also and placed his arm around my shoulders with a look on his face that said, _don't you dare come near me_.

"It's nice to see you again" Christian said, looking rather intimidated.

"Dante, what's gotten into you?" I said, moving from under his arm, he looked at me for a long time before sitting back down.

"I've missed you" Christian said, I looked down at the floor not able to meet his gaze.

"And you as well" I said, too formerly.

"I have to get back to work, but we'll talk later" he answered, bowing to me.

"Ok" I answered, I returned to my seat.

"So that's the guy" Dante said, glaring at the door where Christian had left the room.


	22. love and confirmation

I watched Dante out of the corner of my eye, trying to figure out his reaction to Christian but failed.

"Let me show you to your rooms" my sister, said breaking my concentration.

"It hasn't been that long, I still remember where my room is" I said, standing.

"I didn't mean you, although their rooms will be next to yours" she took my hand and led me out of the room, leaving the other two to follow after me. She led us back into the throne room, across the floor in front on the thrones. I briefly glanced at my parents thrones, which were either side of my sisters and my own, I half expected to see them sitting there smiling at us.

"Kayla, this way" Katherine said. We exited the throne room and up two flights of stairs, she didn't let go of my hand the entire time we were walking, it was like she was scared I would disappear again.

"Ok" she said turning to Dante and Nero behind us.

"These two rooms opposite us will be yours, mine is at the end of the hallway and Kayla's is here" she pointed to the door left of where we were standing with her free hand.

"Thanks" Dante grinned and opened the door to his room.

"Thank you for your hospitality" Nero said, smiling.

"Come on" my twin pulled me into my room and closed the door behind us.

"I missed you sister" she said, leaning on the door, tears filling her eyes.

"Kate, I missed you too" I said, feeling my own eyes filling up.

"I'm sorry I..." I started but before I finished she threw herself at me and hugged me tightly.

"Sorry, I left without saying anything" I said, hugging her back. I felt her shake her head against my shoulder.

"No, it's ok, I was worried about you, I just wanted to know you were ok" she pulled away, rubbing her eyes.

"Don't worry Kate I'm fine, I can stay as long as you need me to" at this she looked up at me.

"You mean you're not staying for good?" she asked, still resting her arms on my shoulders.

"I can't Kate, I have a job now. And besides you don't need me you've got a city to run." I smiled at her, but she didn't return it.

"You can't leave again I won't let you" she tightened her grip and stared me down.

"your still as stubborn as ever I see, ok fine I'll stay as long as your unhappy with me leaving" I replied, she smiled slightly but didn't let me go.

"Knock knock, oh I'm sorry am I interrupting something?" Dante said, opening the door, seeing my twin with her arms around my neck he smirked.

"Please don't let me stop you please continue" he leant against the door and crossed his arms; my sister blushed and let me go quickly.

"You perv" I said, glaring at him.

"What did you do now?" Nero asked as he entered my room, but Dante just shrugged his shoulders.

"I wanted to thank you again for letting us stay here, the rooms are amazing" Nero said, smiling.

"Yeah thanks" Dante added, before Nero kicked him hard.

"Ow! thank you very much for letting us stay, princess" Dante glared at Nero, and muttered something under his breath about killing him, but Nero just laughed.

"You two certainly the polar opposites of each other" my twin said, trying not to laugh at them.

"yeah there as different as we are" I added, leaning my arm on my twins shoulder, despite her being older than me she was still shorter but a few inches, something which she hated me mentioning when we were kids.

"Ok, now we have our rooms, sorted shall we take that tour you promised?" Dante asked, looking past us through the window behind me.

"It's a lovely day for it, don't you think?"

"Alright, why don't you come Kate?"

"I'm afraid I have a lot of work to do, you see a storm hit the city recently and it caused a lot of damage, so I'm very busy. I'm sorry" she bowed, before leaving the room.

"Guess it's just us then" Dante said, grinning at me.

"And me!" Nero shouted behind Dante.

"Oh yeah sorry kid I forgot about you"

"Come here and say that" Nero warned.

"Guys, now's not the time to be fighting" I said, they both looked at me then sighed in unison.

"She's right, besides I wouldn't want to kill you here and ruin these beautiful rooms" Dante left the room but not before throwing Nero another smirk which caused him to chase after Dante in anger.

"Those boys are certainly, loud" someone said, as I looked out of my room after the devil hunters.

"They seem reliable though" I turned to see Christian staring at me.

"Christian, how are you?" I re-entered my room and grabbed my coat.

"I'm ok, how are you, you look pale, is everything ok" he looked at me concerned.

"I'm fine, in fact me and the guys are going on a tour of the city, I promised them I'd take them" I answered putting my coat on, but not looking at him. I didn't even notice how close he was to me by now.

"Kayla" he said, resting his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I drove you away" I laughed.

"What makes you think I left because of you?" I tried to look away from him but he turned my face back to his, making me look into his eyes.

"Because of what you told me before you left" he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close to his chest.

"Why are you doing this? You know how I feel, its not fair" I said, trying to free myself but I couldn't he was incredibly strong for a human, I guess that's why my parents picked him to protect us.

"I know how you feel, and ever since you told me I haven't been able to think about anything else"

"What? This is ridiculous, your just feeling guilty because of what you did to me, your not thinking straight" I stopped struggling and looked into his eyes long enough for him to understand.

"I need to confirm something" he said, leaning forward.


	23. realisation

As Christian cradled my face in his hands and leant forward, I expected my heart rate to increase, I expected my face to flush red, or even a tinge of butterflies in my stomach, but I felt nothing. And even when our lips touched, I didn't feel anything, and that's when I realised that I didn't love him like I used to. After all this time, and the distance between us, my feelings for him had become lost along the way. Now when he kissed me all I felt was guilt and anger, and yet a few days ago I had told Dante I still loved this man, but in truth I didn't. To me he was just a memory an old friend, as I came to this conclusion relief washed over me.

"Stop this" I said, firmly pushing him away.

"I still haven't confirmed it" he replied, pulling me closer again.

"You don't love me, you love my sister" I said, he shook his head.

"Your sister rejected me"

"So this is your way of getting back at her is that it?" I shook my head.

"Your pathetic you know that, I can't believe you would..." he kissed me again.

"Don't test me" I said escaping from his grasp.

"What happened to you, you used to be so much different?"

"It's your fault, I'm like this" he answered walking towards me.

"My fault!" he nodded.

"Yes, your fault you told me you loved me. So I decided if you could it so could I. And look what happened."

"Your blaming me for my sisters answer" it wasn't a question, it was clear what he was doing, he thought he could punish my sister by kissing me.

"I can't believe you thought this would work" he was angry by now I could see it on his face.

"Stop talking" he said, grabbing me and pulling me back to him.

"Let me go" I would have shouted it, but I didn't want Dante or Nero to hear us.

"No way" saying this he pulled my hair, and kissed me before I yelped in pain. When he pulled away, glaring at me, I saw Dante standing in the door way, with Nero behind him. He looked between the two of us, he must have seen something on my face he didn't like because he, walked in the room grabbed my arm and pulled me outside in silence, leaving Christian staring after us in confusion.

"So how about that tour" Dante said, releasing my arm.

"Why did you do that?" I asked, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Tour?" he asked, again.

"Your not going to explain are you?" I sighed, deciding I'd quiz him later.


	24. tour

The sun shone high in the sky, it reflected off the pond in front of us, making the water sparkle. Around the tree's waved in the breeze. The three of us sat on a bench watching the water.

"Me and Kate spent most of our childhood in this park" I said, after a while.

"It's beautiful in spring, when the leaves change colour" I stood from the bench and turned to face the other two.

"So where to now?" I asked.

"How about a drink?" Dante said.

"alright, there's a good place just down the street from here" the two followed me out of the park and down the nearest side street, on the other side of the tiny road was a street identical to the other side. I turned left and led the two devil hunters to a small building, with floor to ceiling windows.

"This place looks sissy" Dante complained.

"don't worry it's a licensed bar I promise" I winked at him before entering the building, the bell above the door sounded as we did so and the old man behind the counter smiled. We found a table near the door and sat down.

"So folks, what'll it be?" the same man from the counter asked, holding a notebook and pen in his hand.

"Just water for me" I answered smiling.

"You sell beer?" Dante asked.

"It's the middle of the day" I complained, Dante shrugged.

"Yes we do sir, would you like one?" Dante nodded, and the man turned his gaze to Nero who was sitting in the corner next to me.

"I'll have the same" he said, nodding in the waiter's direction.

"Ok, I'll be right back kids" he said, before leaving. Nero groaned at the word kid and folded his arms on the table annoyed.

"This place is still sissy" Dante said, observing the pink curtains at the windows and the similarly colored table cloth.

"Maybe it's owned by a woman?" I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Did you come here a lot when you lived here?" Nero asked, cheering up a bit.

"Yes but it was different back then, less girly." I answered.

"Here are your drinks, folks." The waiter returned with a tray, he placed the drinks on the table before tucking it under his arm.

"Do you really think it's girly?" he asked, surprising me.

"Yeah kinda" I answered.

"Well that's my wife for ya, she thinks everything's gotta be pink to be pretty" he laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"I know someone like that" Dante said, and pictures of Patty entered my mind briefly.

"Well enjoy your drinks" the old man returned to his post behind the counter.

"How long are you planning on staying here?" Dante asked out of the blue.

"I don't know, my sister doesn't want me to leave" Dante shrugged his shoulders.

"So"

"So I can't just leave her, besides you didn't have to come you know, and you don't have to stay" I took a drink of my water and shivered at how cold it was.

"You want me to go home, cause I will" Dante said, Nero was silently drinking beside me but I could see him watching me out of the corner of my eye.

"Its your choice" I said, not willing to admit I wanted him to stay.

"Fine then, I'll go home" I knew he was testing me, so I shrugged my shoulders and stayed silent.

"Well I'm staying" Nero spoke making me jump.

"You are?" I asked, he nodded.

"I like this place" he answered, finishing his drink.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked me.

"I don't know, ask the waiter" I answered, standing to let him through.

"Now then, how long are you going to pretend you're ok?" Dante asked me after Nero was out of earshot.

"I don't know what you mean" I said, focusing on my drink.

"I think you do, I saw what happened with you and that guy, you can't tell me your ok after that" he didn't say Christian's name which I thought strange but I pushed the thought aside.

"I'm fine" two words i had said so many times but never really meant. Dante shook his head.

"fine i'm leaving" he stood.

"why?" i stood with him, letting my arms fall to my sides.

"you obviously don't need me here so i'm leaving." He turned and walked out of the building before i could answer him, just as the door swung shut Nero reappeared.

"where'd the old man go?" he asked me, i was still staring at the door, in confusion.

"he left" i said simply returning to my seat and finishing my drink.

"left?, aren't you gonna go after him?" Nero asked, taking the seat that previously belonged to Dante, i shook my head.

"he cant get far i have the car keys" i said, smirking, Nero laughed nodding.

"i see"


	25. fighting over car keys?

After half an hour of waiting for Dante to return, with a stupid grin on his face, I sighed.

"Where the hell is he?" I asked, myself no longer noticing Nero staring at me across the table.

"You wanna go look for him?" he asked me, and I nodded without realising it.

"I mean, he could be lost, so we should go find him" I explained, trying to convince myself that it wasn't because I wanted to apologize even though I had no idea what I had done wrong. We left the cafe after paying for our drinks, well to be more precise I paid for the drinks. I looked first left then right.

"Guess we should retrace our steps" I said, trying to make it sound like we had lost a phone or something trivial like that, Nero nodded.

"Maybe we should split up, that way if I find his first I can kill him" Nero said, laughing.

"Don't kill him. He needs to apologize for leaving first then you can kill him." I said, giggling back. We parted ways, Nero went left and I went right, heading back to the park we had been in recently.

"moron, why'd he have to run off" I complained to myself, I walked as slow as I could hoping Nero would find him first that way I wouldn't have to face his questions again. But lady luck was not on my side, as I re-entered the park I saw a silver haired, red clad, Demon hunter sitting facing away from me on a bench.

"Hey you!" I shouted, running up to him and smacking him round the head.

"What the hell!" he complained, rubbing his head.

"Oh come on that didn't hurt" I said sitting next to him on the bench.

"Why did you leave?" I asked, not giving him chance to ask me anything first.

"You don't need me here" he said, matter-of-factly.

"Not true" I whispered.

"What'd ya say" he said, leaning closer.

"Nothing"

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" he asked me.

"Your not going to let it go are you?" I sighed, trying to think of how to put it without sounding stupid.

"Tell me" he said again, facing me.

"Well, he kissed me" I said, looking away.

"I know" Dante answered, I could see his eyes watching me carefully through my hair, which covered my face.

"I just, I thought. I don't love him anymore" I said, finally looking Dante in the eyes.

"You don't love him, that's all?" he smiled shaking his head.

"No that's not all!" I shouted suddenly angry but not knowing why, Dante backed up at my sudden outburst so I lowered my voice.

"I just mean that he turned out to be a total jerk, that's all" Dante nodded.

"Yeah he is a jerk, but that's not what I would have called him" he said smirking, I laughed.

"I know" I said still giggling.

"It actually feels good to get this off my chest" I leant back on the bench and lifted my head to the sky.

"Glad to hear it, but I'm still leaving" he said, taking me by surprise.

"You are, but why?" I looked back at him, his face was deadly serious.

"Because wherever I go demons follow and I would want your lovely city to be destroyed because of me" he gestured to the park we were in.

"This city is protected you don't need to worry about that" I said.

"You saw the guard towers, and besides this city is protected by a magical barrier, which stops evil coming in from outside" I pointed the sky where a green glint could be seen sparkling in the sun light.

"That may be, however..." I stopped him by standing and placing my hand over his mouth.

"It's not a problem, but if you still feel like you should leave go ahead, however you should remember I drove _you _here." I removed my hand and winked at him, spinning my keys on my finger.

"True" Dante answered, before reaching for the keys, I stepped back forcing him to stand.

"Ah ah ah, not so fast" I said, taking another three steps back.

"Give them to me" Dante warned, I knew the consequences of getting into this kind of playful fight with Dante but I wasn't going to give in, I was just as stubborn as him if not more.

"come and get them" I said, running off to the other side of the park, he followed slowly behind, but didn't run after me, making it easy for me to get around the outside and back to the gate we had entered through before he reached where I had been.

"Too slow!" I shouted, this triggered something though because he spun round and bolted towards me, faster than I was. I closed the gate again and ran back round the park but he caught up with me, and grabbed my wrist.

"Car keys" he said seriously, as I pulled away trying to escape.

"No way" I turned round, glaring at him.

"Car keys please" he said, grinning, I shook my head.

"Fine" Dante dragged back into the park.

"let me go" I complained, I looked around frantically for a way to escape, and just when I had given up hope I caught a glimpse of silver hair, running in our direction.

"Nero!" I shouted, catching the young man by surprise.

"oh hey!" he shouted back, picking up his pace, Dante merely shrugged his shoulders and pulled me closer, wrapping his free arm around my waist and trapping me completely.

"No escape" he whispered into my ear, causing me to blush.

"What's going on?" Nero asked, confused.

"Help me" I pleaded, struggling against Dante's superior strength.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt her" Dante said.

"Quite the opposite really"

"Come on old man why don't you fight me instead, much more of a challenge" Nero said trying to distract him.

"I'm not looking for a challenge" he said, smirking, that's when I got an idea.

"Let me go or I'll scream" I warned, noticing the royal guardsman standing nearby.

"You wouldn't" Dante answered also noticing the guard; I took a deep breath ready to scream.

"Fine" he said, quickly releasing his grasp. I stepped behind Nero who just looked at me, slightly annoyed that I was using him as a shield.

"Guess your staying then" I said, jangling my keys at him, he took a swipe at them but I pulled them away quickly.

"Move out of the way Nero" Dante said, stepping closer to us Nero stepped back which caused me to do so as well.

"You want to fight old man, bring it on!" Nero retorted, taking a swing at his older counterpart.

"Bad move kid!" Dante said, jumping back to dodge before charging forward again and striking Nero, however Nero blocked it with his free arm and grinned.

"You're losing your touch old man" he said, removing his other arm from its sling and swinging it at Dante, Nero's other arm was strange looking.

"Hey! You two we'll have none of that!" the guard nearby shouted, running in our direction, I smiled at the guard as he passed me, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Lady Kayla, nice to see you again" he said, bowing.

"Please take care of those two please" I answered, returning the bow.

"Yes of course" the guard answered, un-sheathing his sword and running off again.

"Stop fighting!" he shouted.

"Ok, ok I hear ya!" Dante shouted, throwing his hands up in surrender. Nero stood metres away from Dante, he nodded at the guard and placed his arm back in its sling.


	26. sleep

_(Just a short one this time. I'm running out of ideas. Got any? Neway here ya go )_

"Now that that's over" I said, replacing my keys in my back pocket.

"You should have let me kill him" Nero complained, sulking.

"What makes you think you can kill me?" Dante retorted.

"Guys can you stop fighting for one second please" I said, trying to sound authorities.

"We're just incompatible" Dante said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Really well try to at least be civil to each other instead of trying to kill each other all the time"

The younger of the two folded his arms across his chest and frowned looking very much like a sulking teenager, meanwhile Dante just shrugged his shoulders.

"Where now?" Dante asked.

"I thought you were leaving" I answered, sarcastically.

"You won't let me" he said, I laughed.

"You can always walk home" I suggested, Dante shook his head.

"No way! Its miles away" he complained. Over head the sky began to darken, and the street lights lit up.

"Its getting dark, we should get back to the palace" I said, heading towards the main road.

"Guess so" Dante replied, on the other side of me Nero was still silent. We walked down the main road, slowly. The night air wasn't exactly cold however it wasn't warm enough to be summer. The palace looked like a Christmas tree in the centre of the city all lit up with hundreds of lights.

"Wonder how much electricity that place uses" Dante wondered. As we got closer to the palace I could see someone standing in the doorway, and without seeing them I knew it was my sister.

"Where you worried?" I asked her, she nodded silently, smiling brightly.

"Well no need" I said, smiling back. We entered the palace again, and walked through the throne room, I noticed the place was empty. The usual servants and general visitors were nowhere to be seen, it was strange to see it looking so deserted.

"Where is everyone?" I asked my twin, she shook her head.

"They all went home for the day" she answered.

"It's just me and Christian left here. And you and your friends of course" I felt anger welling up in me at the mention of his name, but it faded when I saw my bedroom.

"Goodnight sister" my twin said, hugging me.

"Night, good night guys, don't kill each other" I said, grinning.

"Night Kayla" Dante answered.

"Goodnight" Nero replied sounding annoyed still.

"Would you like a wakeup call?" my sister asked.

"No thank you" I left and closed the door to my room, I breathed a sigh of relief and changed, before falling onto the king sized bed.

"I'm so tired" I complained to myself, yawning. I rolled onto my side, and closed my eyes.

Sleep came easily and without dreams, the kind of sleep you don't want to wake from, unfortunately I did wake, all too early for my liking.

"6:30" I read the fluorescent green numbers on the clock and sighed.

"Too early" I complained, but try as I might I couldn't get back to sleep, something had woken me and it wasn't going to let me sleep again today.


	27. decisions over breakfast

The clock ticked slowly, it seemed to be mocking me. I groaned at the fact that it was still only 7:00am and I was wide awake. I sat on the bed, thinking about my sister and how she would take my decision. I had decided to leave tomorrow if not today, I didn't feel at home here it was too fancy and, I was nervous constantly wondering when I would run into Christian again it was making me go insane.

"I need to get out of here" I said to myself, as I changed my clothes and smoothed down my hair.

I glanced at the clock.

"7:30" I read, frowning.

"Well I guess I have some time to kill" I decided to take a walk, knowing that neither Dante nor Nero would be awake for at least another hour if not longer. I left the room and closed the door, before heading down the grand staircase. Along the walls where portraits of my parents alongside pictures if me and my sister, the biggest picture was a family portrait. At the bottom of the stairs I turned into the throne room and lingered in front of the thrones a while.

"Which one's mine?" I wondered, the two in the centre where silver and gold obviously my parents thrones, the other two however where contrasting colours one was red and the other blue. I walked up the two steps that led to the thrones and sat down in the blue one.

"It suits you" I heard a familiar voice and my body stiffened.

"You know you never should have left, you could be queen by now" Christian stepped out of the darkness and smiled at me.

"I'm leaving soon" I replied, standing and descending the steps.

"Oh really, your sister wont like that"

"She'll understand" I said, leaving the throne room and Christian behind. The idea of me leading the city was ridiculous and I had no intention of staying here forever, I needed to live away from here, I loved being independent, besides I kind of liked living with Dante, at least it wasn't boring. I went into the small meeting room behind the throne room and sat at the table, leaning my arms on the wooden table. As I sat there my head started to hurt, it started off distant and just and ache but after a few seconds the pain grew until I could hardly bare it anymore. I put my head on the table, my hands clenched into fists, and tears in my eyes.

"Morning" I heard Dante say, but I couldn't move, my head was pounding.

"You ok?"He asked, I felt the table move as he sat down beside me.

"Hello, Kayla" he tapped my shoulder, all I could manage was to shake my head.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Got a headache?" the pain in my head faded slightly and I sat up.

"Yes" I answered, closing my eyes.

"It'll pass" I said, trying to stay still. After a few minutes the pain disappeared all together and I opened my eyes again.

"Sorry" I said, smiling weakly at him.

"Don't be" he said.

"How did you know where I was?" I asked, making small talk.

"Christian told me, I didn't even ask him, nosey bastard" Dante stood from the table.

"Breakfast?" he asked, I nodded and followed him out of the door.

"So why'd you get a headache like that?" Dante asked curiously.

"I don't actually know, it's been happening for as long as I can remember. It only happens occasionally though" I took the lead and lead Dante in the direction of the kitchen.

"I see" he didn't sound interested, more like he was just making conversation.

"So how long do we have to stay here?" he asked.

"Why don't you like it here?" I smirked at him, I had noticed how his style clashed with the decor of the Palace, he looked out of place here.

"It's more the company I don't like" he answered.

"Well I was considering leaving today" I opened the door to the kitchen and held it open for Dante.

"Really, sounds good" he said, sitting at the table, I sat next to him but he looked at me with a confused look on his face.

"What's for breakfast?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"What would you like?" My twin asked walking into the room.

"Where's the cook?" I asked her.

"She took the day off" my sister answered, grinning.

"So your gonna cook?" I asked, remembering previous disasters in the kitchen.

"Yes why?" she tilted her head.

"Can you actually cook?"

"Of course" she answered, however her expression said she had no clue.

"This I gotta see" I said, following her to the fridge.

"What would you like?" my twin asked.

"Just toast and milk for me" I answered, grabbing the milk from the open fridge.

"Just coffee" Dante replied from the table.

"Please sit down, I'll serve you" my twin said, smiling. Returned to my seat, shrugging my shoulders.

"She's not like you at all is she?" Dante asked, quietly.

"What do mean?" I frowned at him.

"Well, she's a real lady all polite and stuff and your well. Not" he said, I folded my arms.

"Oh really" I stared him down, before standing suddenly.

"Let me do it" I said to my twin taking the coffee cup from her.

"But Kay, I" she started, I ignored her and poured boiling water in the cup. I turned to Dante at the table stirring his coffee.

"Here you go" I said, glaring at him.

"Polite enough for you?" he smirked at me.

"Much better Lady Kayla"

"Don't call me that" I answered sitting down leaving a seat between us and turning away from him.

"My sister doesn't like her title" Katherine confirmed, placing my breakfast on the table in front of me, and sat opposite the two of us.

"Really, that gives me an idea" Dante smirked and I got the feeling it wouldn't be the last time he would call me Lady Kayla, much to my dismay.

"Kate I have something to tell you" I said, between bites of my toast.

"You do?" she leant her chin on her hand and smiled.

"Yes. I'm leaving soon" I said, quickly.

"Leaving" her face dropped.

"Yes. I need to. I have business to do back home"

"But your home is here" she said, looking completely distraught.

"No. Its not. It never has been. Since I left I've made my home elsewhere, besides you don't need me" I finished my breakfast and put my plate in the sink to wash it.

"Your sure this is what you want?" my twin asked from the table.

"yes." I turned to face her smiling.

"It won't change anything we're still family right?" Katherine stood from the table and hugged me.

"Stay in touch sister" she said, softly.

"I'll try" I answered, she released me and stepped back.

"Where is Nero anyway?" I asked Dante.

"I don't know" I sighed.

"He was in the room next to you wasn't he?" Dante shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah so"

"So shouldn't you know where he is"

"He's probably still sleeping"


	28. homeward bound

As we sat silently, the door opened and in walked a sleepy Nero rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning" I greeted him but he just nodded and sat down.

"How did you sleep?" my sister asked him.

"Ok, I guess" he glanced at Dante sitting beside me, before turning his attention to the kitchen.

"Breakfast?" my twin, stood and smiled at him.

"Coffee" he said, simply he was obviously not awake yet, it was quite entertaining really, and I struggled to keep a straight face. Katherine placed a mug of coffee in front of him and sat back down.

"Wake up kid!" Dante shouted at him, laughing.

"Shut up old man" Nero answered back glaring at him, Dante held his hands up in mock surrender and laughed.

"Sorry"

"Not a morning person huh?" I asked him, he shook his head.

"Well don't worry you won't have to get up early again, we're leaving today" that seemed to cheer him up, because he looked up from his mug at me.

"We are?" he asked, I nodded.

"Yeah, this place is too fancy for me anyhow" I answered, standing from the table.

"Well, I'm going to get my things together, see you later" I left the room, hoping to get some time alone but my sister followed me out.

"Are you going to follow me everywhere until I leave?" I asked her as she linked her arm with mine.

"Why, does it bother you" I sighed and shook my head.

"I guess not" I smiled at her and we walked back up the grand staircase.

"It was the other way around when we were kids. Do you remember?" she stopped me in front of our family portrait.

"Yeah, but I was much more naive back then" I said, continuing back up the staircase, but my sister stayed where she was.

"Kate you ok?" she jumped at my voice, as if I'd woken her from her thoughts.

"Yes" she ran up the stairs to meet me at the top.

"I just thought it would be nice if we where a family again, you know?" she looked at me expectantly. I knew what she was doing she was trying to get me to stay but I had made my decision and I wasn't going back on it.

"Kate, I'm leaving you can't stop me" it sounded a little more harsh than I wanted, so I softened my voice.

"Its not that I'm trying to leave you behind, it's just that I don't feel at home here, and besides that there's..."

"Me, right" Christian spoke from behind me.

"You? No." I walked past him and into my bedroom. I knew he was the reason I wanted to leave but it felt like if I told him that it was like I was admitting defeat and that is something I would never do.

"Kay wait" Katherine said after me.

"What did you do to her?" she asked turning her attention to Christian, he shrugged.

"Nothing really" he answered and walked back down the staircase.

"Kayla, what did he do to you?" my twin asked as she entered my bedroom.

"Nothing much, I just don't like him" I answered, she frowned at me.

"Don't you trust me?" she could tell something was bothering me, she always could tell even when we were kids.

"Of course I do" I grabbed my back from the dressing table near the window and threw it on the bed along with my scarf.

"Then talk to me" she pleaded, sitting on the bed beside my bag.

"You really want to know?" I sat down next to her, she nodded.

"Fine. He kissed me" I said, simply she looked confused.

"I thought you loved him, isn't that good news?" I shook my head.

"I don't love him. And no its not. He's a jerk" I wrapped my scarf around my neck and hung my bag on my shoulder.

"I'll talk to him" Katherine said.

"No need. I made my feelings clear to him. And anyway I'm leaving today so there's no point" she stood from the bed.

"If you say so" she said opening the door to leave.

"I do" I followed her out to find Dante and Nero standing in the corridor.

"Ready?" Dante asked, leaning against the wall.

"Your eager to leave aren't you?" my sister said, laughing.

"Well I miss my office" he replied.

"That old place is a mess" I said, making his frown at me.

"Hey that's my home you're talking about" he said.

"It's my home as well" I replied. I glanced at Nero who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. I crept up beside him.

"Hey!" I shouted in his ear and he jumped, lost his balance and fell backwards.

"You cluts" Dante said, laughing loudly.

"Sorry" it didn't sound like an apology though I was laughing so much.

"What the hell!" Nero shouted, standing up and glaring at the two of us.

"You think that's funny" he removed his arm from its sling and walked towards us.

"Please no fighting in the house" my sister said quickly stepping in front of me. Nero mumbled something under his breath and stomped past us and down the stairs. Once he was gone, I broke down in laughter again, leaning against the wall for support.

"What an idiot" Dante said, still laughing.

"That was mean" my sister scolded me.

"I couldn't resist" I said, giggling.

"You know he'll get revenge" Dante warned.

"What's he going to do fall asleep on me" I burst out laughing again at my own joke.

"No that's my job" Dante smirked at me.

"Perv" I said, beside me my sister was blushing furiously off in her own world.

"Hey Kate" I waved my hand in front of her face but she didn't notice.

"Sorry she has an over active imagination, she's spaced out." I explained.

"Hey Kate!. Earth to Kate!" I shook her shoulders and she came back to reality.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nothing" she said, shaking her head. It was obvious she was thinking something she shouldn't have.

"Let me escort you out" she said changing the subject.

"Hang on a second" Dante said disappearing off into his room.

"What now?" I asked, he returned carrying a black guitar case on his shoulder.

"cant forget this" he said, pushing it further up his shoulder, I looked at him confused, until I realised he wasn't carrying his rebellion and figured it was in the guitar case. Katherine led us to the front door, where Nero was waiting frowning, his arms folded.

"Took you long enough" he complained, I laughed.

"Yeah well, I had to calm her down first, she was laughing so much" Dante said pointing to me, Nero just glared at me and left the building.

"Goodbye sister" Katherine said, hugging me tightly, Dante followed Nero out the door and left us to say goodbye.

"I'll miss you" she said, tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too." She released me and stepped back.

"Don't forget to write" she said, I sighed.

"I won't." I smiled, as she bowed.

"Leaving so soon?" Christian's voice echoed in the large throne room and I groaned.

"Yes. Why? You got something to say?" he laughed at my anger.

"Not at all. Just goodbye Lady Kayla. I'm sure we'll meet again" I scoffed.

"Yeah right. Don't hold your breath"

"See ya" I said and turned away, leaving the palace. As the doors swung closed I felt relieved, like a chapter of my life had finally been closed and a new one awaited.

"Shall we?" I said, smiling at the two demon hunters before me.

"You bet" Dante said, Nero nodded but refused to speak to me.

"Well Adios sis" I said, as we sped away from the city.

"You sound like you're never going back" Dante said, beside me.

"I don't plan on it" I replied making sure to keep my eyes on the road ahead.

"Really?" I nodded. I had no intention of going back there ever, freedom was much too good to pass up.


	29. training or practice

After three hours of driving and an hour of Dante making me stop because he was hungry we finally arrived back at the devil may cry office.

"Home sweet home" Dante said, as I parked the car behind the office.

"It's good to be home" he said, getting out of the car.

As soon as we entered the office, Dante took up his usual spot at his desk and I lay on the sofa, my arms folded above my head. I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes. Nero sat at the other end of the sofa with his arms folded, but he didn't look angry anymore just tired.

"'I'm gonna go home" Nero said suddenly making me look up at him.

"See ya, thanks for coming with us" I said, waving.

"Later kid" Dante shouted, without looking up he had his nose in a magazine of some sort.

I closed my eyes again and sighed, on the brink of falling asleep, so I didn't notice when Dante left his desk and approached the sofa.

"So how come...you could defeat countless demons, but...you couldn't fight off Christian" I opened my eyes, Dante was leaning with his back to me on the back of the sofa.

"No idea" I said simply un-willing to talk about.

"I guess I'm just not used to fighting humans" I sat up and swung my legs round, leaning my elbows on my knees.

"Sounds like you need practice" Dante said, walking round the sofa and standing in front of me, I stared down at his boots, and shrugged my shoulders.

"come on" Dante grabbed my wrist before I could respond and dragged me through the door that led up to the apartment above the office, however instead of going up he pulled me through a door, to the left of the stairs one I had never seen before.

"Where are we going?" I asked, as he dragged me down a stone, dark, staircase.

"You'll see" he answered with a hint of excitement in his voice.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and unlocked the metal door with his free hand and pushed it open. Inside the room was dark and there was a cold breeze blowing through the door, I hesitated slightly, but I was dragged inside by Dante who was still holding my wrist.

"What is this place?" my voice echoed in the darkness. Dante released my wrist and left me standing in the middle of the room, I looked around but I couldn't see anything. To my left I heard a click and a few seconds later the lights came on.

"Well?" Dante said, standing behind me.

"What?" the room we were in was empty, the walls where concrete and it was lit by a chandelier which didn't fit in with the room at all.

"Do you like it?" he asked, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Am I supposed to?" Dante nodded.

"Ok well err its spacious" I said, trying to sound impressed, Dante sighed.

"What do you use it for?" I asked hesitantly.

"Training"

"I see" now that I looked closer there were scratches and cracks all over the walls, one crack was so wide you could see the steel reinforcements behind the concrete.

"So why have you brought me here?" I asked, nervously I had a feeling I wouldn't like his answer but my curiosity wouldn't let me stay silent.

"You need practice" he pointed at me, grinning.

"Practice?" Dante sighed.

"Yes, so I'm going to help you with that" I folded my arms.

"I don't need help" I went for the door but he got there before me and held it shut.

"Are you scared you'll lose?" he mocked, I frowned. I wasn't one to back down from a challenge, but I didn't need his help, at least that's what I kept telling myself.

"Come on, you coward" I unfolded my arms and glared at him.

"No one calls me a coward" I warned, he just laughed.

"Ok. Fine. You want a fight, you got one" I said, giving in, Dante's grin grew wider and he backed away from the door and across the room, where his sword stood against the wall.

"How did that get down here?" I asked.

"Wait a minute your actually going to use that?" I yelled, suddenly realising I was unarmed.

"Why are you afraid?" he walked towards me.

"No. I don't have a weapon" Dante tilted his head to the side.

"Yes you do, what happened to your sword?" he stopped in his tracks.

"I don't..." I trailed off, a switch flicked in my head and I realised I didn't need to have my sword here, it was a manifestation of my power all I needed to do was summon it.

"I get it" I whispered to myself closing my eyes, I held out my hand and visualised the sword I had used in the labyrinth.

"Nice" I heard Dante say, I opened my eyes to see my sword, only this time it had a black sheath with blue details along its length.

"Are you ready?" I asked, throwing the sheath as far away as possible and pointing the blade at Dante, he laughed.

"Always" he answered.

Our swords clashed but it was easy for him to push me back.

"What's the matter, don't hold back on me" Dante complained, as our swords clashed again, and yet again I was pushed back.

"I'm not" I lied, it was true I was holding back, I wasn't ready to release my demon side yet I couldn't trust myself with it.

"you are" he argued, I tightened my grip on my sword and charged at him again, our blades clashed but this time I stood my ground, I didn't manage to push him back but at least I stopped him moving forward.

"Why are you so weak?" he asked, trying to annoy me.

"Maybe you're just really strong" I answered sarcastically.

"I am, but your holding back, I can tell" the fact I was holding back seemed to annoy him but I had no clue why.

"Take it seriously" he knocked my sword out of my hands, and tripped me backwards. I groaned when I hit the floor hard, he didn't give me time to do anything before he pinned me down and grinned down at me.

"See your weak" he said, something inside me snapped and my human side was consumed by the darker half of myself, I glared at him my eyes glowing a darker red. Before he could do anything I kicked his legs from under him and pinned him down, my sword to his throat.

"Hey calm down" he said, noticing the serious look on my face.

"You wanted me to take it seriously" I whispered, my sword drew blood, and he groaned.

"Kayla, you can let me go now" I snapped out of it and realised what I was doing.

"I'm sorry" I stood and dropped my sword to the floor.

"What was that?" Dante asked, I retrieved my sword and its sheath and headed for the door silently, but he stopped me.

"Are you ok?" I nodded, and left the room running up the stairs and into my room, closing the door behind me


	30. comfort

_Whoop thirty pages XD it might not seem like much but it's an accomplishment none the less...newhoo on with the story..._

I sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, my forehead leaning on my knees.

"this is stupid" I said to myself, it was hardly worth sulking over it was bound to happen sooner or later but the fact that it was Dante I attacked seemed to make me feel more guilty.

"Kayla!" Dante knocked the door to my room, before opening it which surprised me.

"Are you ok?" he leant on the doorframe and folded his arms, I looked up and nodded.

"alright then, I'll be downstairs if you need me" he turned away from to leave, but hesitated as if he was waiting for me to say something to make him stay but I stayed silent. Dante shook his head and left closing the door again behind him, I breathed a sigh of relief. It's not that I didn't want to talk to him, I did, I wanted to tell him everything about what had happened and how I was feeling but something made me refrain, I was scared to talk to him, and it annoyed me so much.

"Idiot" I cursed at myself, leaning my head back on my knees. I remembered the last time I had run away from him after our fight, that time he refused to leave and tried everything to make me forgive him so why was he giving up so easily this time, but I came to the conclusion that we weren't that close anyway and went back to sulking.

Behind me on the wall the clock ticked slowly, as if mocking me. I found myself tapping my legs with my hand in time with the clock, out of boredom.

"Who the hell puts a ticking clock right above the bed" I complained to myself. But as annoying as the ticking was, I found myself falling asleep to the sound my eyes grew heavy.

"Hey Kayla!" I jumped hearing Dante's voice behind the door.

"Yeah, what?" I answered sounding slightly annoyed at being woken up. He opened the door and leant on the frame again.

"You hungry?" he asked, I shook my head but my stomach growled disobediently.

"You are. What's wrong with you anyway? And what was that earlier?" I sighed, shaking my head.

"I don't want to talk about it" I said wishing he would just leave me alone to sulk.

"Well I do" he said defiantly, he closed the door and sat on the bed I was leaning on.

"Just because you do doesn't mean I'm going to tell you" I stood and folded my arms.

"Why not? Is it really that bad?"

"Why are you so interested anyway?" I knelt on the bed beside him, facing him.

"We're friends aren't we?" he said with a smile.

"I guess, but..."

"Its fine if you won't tell me" he said cutting me off.

"I know you don't mean that" why was I so afraid to tell him? I had no idea, it wasn't like it was something he hadn't already seen for himself.

"You remember earlier, when we were fighting?" I asked him making him jump, he hadn't been expecting me to say anything.

"I do" I could tell he was holding back his jokes and trying to sound serious, it was rather cute really.

"Well, I lost control" I took a deep breath, before I continued trying to figure out how to say it.

"I'm not able to control that side of me very well."

"I figured that much"

"I'm sorry if I hurt you" I looked down at my knees.

"Don't worry I'm pretty resilient" he grinned at me, as I looked up.

"How can you be so calm about this?" he shrugged his shoulders.

"It terrifies me that I might lose it again and hurt someone or worse kill someone. I don't understand how you can sit there and smile" tears welled in my eyes, and my hands were shaking.

"You have no reason to be afraid of your own power." I shook my head fast.

"You don't understand. I do have a reason to be scared. I know what losing control can mean for me. What I'm capable of doing. I can't let myself do that again. I just can't..." I trailed off tears running down my face. In one swift motion Dante pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me.

"Don't get so worked up." He said, I leaned my forehead against his chest and listened to the beating of his heart it was calming.

"You won't hurt anyone" his voice was soft and low.

"How can you be sure?" I wasn't convinced he didn't know what I was going through not really.

"I'll stop you if you lose control again" for a moment I was silent confused and surprised by his words.

"You will?" I looked up at him to make sure he wasn't lying, he nodded his carefree smile returning.

Silence fell as the two of us just sat there, my tears had finally stopped falling and I was no longer shaking.

"Feel better?" Dante asked after a few minutes, I nodded leaning back, but he seemed unwilling to let me go.

"Are you hungry?" Dante asked, as he finally released me from his grip and stood.

"Yes" I answered, taking his outstretched hand and following him downstairs to the quiet office below, and no doubt another pizza for dinner.


	31. pink and red

I sat on top of Dante's desk cross legged watching the older man sleep, a frown fixed on my face.

"How can one man sleep so much?" I complained, leaning my chin on my hands, he stirred in his sleep and a smile appeared on his mouth.

"Wonder what he's dreaming about?" I sighed, shaking my head.

"I'm so bored" I looked down at the desk saw my notebook and got an idea, but before I could put my plan into action and hit him over the head with it, the bell above the door rang.

"Is that guy sleeping again?" a female voice echoed in the empty office and I jumped.

"God he's so lazy" she complained, I turned to see a woman with short spiky black hair. She was wearing white shorts and a jacket that showed off her feminine body.

"Well hello there" she said to me, as I jumped off the desk and shook her hand.

"Hi, I'm Kayla" I said politely.

"Lady, nice to meet you"

"So are you a customer?" I asked, she laughed and shook her head.

"No..."

"She's a debt collector, I have no money you know!" Dante shouted cutting her off.

I turned round and frowned at him.

"Oh really" Lady walked up and leant her hands flat on his desk.

"What do you want?" Dante asked, I followed Lady up to the desk and resumed my place, cross legged on the desk next to where she was standing.

"Well...I heard there was a young girl staying here and I wanted to make sure you weren't kidnapping young girls for money" she smirked.

"For your information she invited herself her, and forced me to let her stay" Dante complained, Lady laughed.

"A girl made you do something" she turned to me.

"What's your secret?" she asked, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Not sure" I admitted.

"So your living here, how's that going for you?" she turned her back on Dante and leant on the desk.

"It's not so bad really." I replied.

"Dante's not that bad" Lady laughed again, looking back at Dante who was once again fast asleep.

"You sure we're talking about the same man?" she said.

"That guy, he's a strawberry sundae freak, he eats pizza every day and never pays back the money he owes me or anyone else"

"You seem to know him well" I said, feeling slightly jealous.

"I guess, the only reason I stay in contact with him is because for one thing he owes me money and for another he'd probably get himself killed without me" she walked towards the door.

"Well I guess I better be off. Tell him I'll be back for my money soon" she grinned at me before leaving. The bell rang again to signal her departure.

"Hey wake up!" I shouted at Dante throwing my notebook at his face, but he raised his hand to block it.

"Stop that!" he yelled angrily, I smirked.

"So is Lady your ex girlfriend?" I asked, he looked insulted by the idea and I couldn't help but feel a little happy at his reaction.

"No way" he said.

"That woman tried to kill me, and she keeps trying to take my money" his annoyance rose as he spoke, and so did my smile.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked, seeing my expression, I blushed noticing how happy I was.

"Err no reason" I turned my head away to hide my blush, he smirked.

"Really, why are you blushing then?" I turned round completely without actually getting off the desk.

"Look at me" he said, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me down backwards, I groaned when my back hit the hard wood of the desk.

"What the hell was that?" I complained, I folded my arms and looked up at him my face turning an even darker shade of red.

"I told you to look at me" he answered, but as I watched his face started turning slightly red, confusion crossed my face until I realised where he was looking.

"what are you looking at?" I asked, cautiously but he didn't answer, I looked down the length of my body to see my skirt was a little higher than it should have been, I blushed seeing what he saw.

"You where pink underwear?" he asked, his smirk returning as he came back to his senses. I hurriedly pushed his hands off my shoulders and jumped off the desk.

"Pervert!" I screamed before throwing my pen at his face and running out of the office and into my bedroom. All I heard was Dante giggling as I ran off, my face as red as his coat was. I slammed the door of my room and threw myself on the bed, burying my face under the pillow.

"I'm so embarrassed" I complained. But as soon as I calmed down, I started thinking about how it was completely his fault.

"Idiot!" I shouted, a little too loudly.


	32. i'll stop you

A knock at the door woke me from my nap, and I groaned rubbing my head.

"What is it?" I moaned, the door opened and Dante entered my room.

"Have you stopped laughing yet?" I asked, glaring at him, he smiled.

"Have you stopped blushing yet?" he retorted.

"You know that was all your fault." I sat up and folded my arms.

"I do. But I don't regret it" he smirked.

"Oh go away" he didn't make any kind of move to leave though just stood there grinning at me.

"Maybe we should, give you some more training" he said, out of the blue, I shook my head.

"No need" I was determined not to let myself get into another fight with him.

"Come on, maybe I can help you control that demon side of yours"

"Your not going to let it go are you?" he shook his head.

"Fine"

"But I have to change first" I stood, but he still didn't move.

"Leave please" I pushed him out the door and closed it firmly behind him, before turning back to the room. I walked over to the dresser and opened the first draw. Rummaging around, I found a pair of black shorts and a red tank top, which I wore underneath, a three quarter length sleeved off shoulder top. I tied my long hair up into a blue ribbon and smiled at my reflection briefly, my plan was to distract Dante from the fight, that's why I wore so little, of course what I was wearing was still tasteful and my excuse was that it was easy to move around in. I pulled my boots back on over my thigh high socks and left the room, to find Dante had already left, I glanced down the staircase that led to the basement and found the door open.

"Guess he's already down there" I whispered to myself, heading down the stone stairs. As I walked through the metal door I knocked it and it squeaked making me jump slightly.

"Took your time" Dante said, looking me up and down before grinning.

"What are you staring at?" I asked, summoning my sword.

"Your eager aren't you" he said, retrieving his sword from its resting place against the far wall.

"I want to get this over with" I answered.

"First we need to establish what the trigger was, that made you lose it in the first place" he leant his forearms on his sword.

"What happened the moment before you lost it?" he asked, I thought back carefully.

"You pinned me down" I answered.

"So that's your trigger. Being in danger. Or being pinned down unable to move" he concluded, I leant against the door nodding.

"That could be it"

"Let's test that theory shall we" he held his sword towards me.

"Wait what if it works!" I asked nervously.

"I told you I will stop you" he didn't give me another chance to argue before he charged at me, I quickly unsheathed my sword and the sound of metal clashing echoed in the empty room.

"Your reaction time is faster than last time" he said, grinning.

We parted, but only briefly before he charged me again, this time he dropped his sword before he reached me and grabbed my shoulders using his leg and trip me backwards.

"That's cheating" I said, as I hit the ground hard.

"No its not" Dante argued, as he knelt over me and pinned my arms above my head.

"This is dangerous" I said, feeling my anger rising.

"Good" he seemed happy that I was starting to lose it.

"Let me go" I said, as I felt my insanity taking over.

"I'll stop you" he said, leaning forward.

He stopped inches from my face, seeing my eyes darken and my hands ball into fists.

"Calm down" he whispered in my ear, but I hardly heard him, my demon had already taken over and I was about to turn the tables, when he leaned in and bridged the gap between us. My eyes turned back to their normal colour, and widened with shock, as he kissed me, softly.

"See" he whispered leaning back and smiling at me, I just stared at him, confused and a little nervous.

"Why did you..." he released me and stood but I didn't move.

"I told you I would stop you" he held his hand out for me to take.

"Yes but I didn't expect that" I answered sitting up.

"Let's try that again" he said, I blushed but he just smiled.

"I meant the fight" he confirmed.

"I know" I stood and grabbed my sword.

"Let's go" I pointed the blade at him, still blushing. I was filled with emotions that I couldn't understand, or rather I did but I didn't want to let them consume me like they did when I had met Christian.

"Alright, don't get angry when I win though" he smirked and ran towards me again.

After about twenty minutes of constant fighting we stopped.

"I'm exhausted" I complained, collapsing to the ground and closing my eyes, Dante followed suit and lay next to me.

"Don't feel bad that you lost, I'm just too awesome" Dante said, I sighed.

"Its your fault I lost you distracted me" I sighed again feeling too exhausted to argue anymore, I looked over to Dante who appeared to have fallen asleep but I didn't buy it.

"Hey wake up!" I yelled, he didn't move.

"so you really are asleep?" I rummaged in my pockets until I found a pen, it just so happened to be a permanent marker, an evil grin appeared on my face as I edged closer to him.

"I'll get him back" I whispered, I poked him to make sure he was asleep and he didn't move so I took the lid of the pen and wrote loser on his forehead, but just as I'd finished he opened his eyes and smirked for a second before, placing his hand around the back of my neck and leaning forward kissing me again.

"Stop that!" I shouted when he leant back, but I started laughing soon after seeing my handy work.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing" I answered still laughing.


	33. confession

_I think it's about time I wrapped this up, it's getting a bit too long, don't you think?. So only a few more chapters left to go...so enjoy it while lasts...XD_

I woke to the sound of birds, which was strange because I distinctly remembered falling asleep in the basement which had no windows. I opened my eyes slowly, to find was lying in my bed in my room, I scanned the room searching for Dante who no doubt had carried me up here, which was rather scary really. I started laughing again as I imagined the expression of Dante's face when he saw my art work on his face.

"Hey you wake up!" Dante shouted, from behind the door.

"What?" I replied, standing from my bed and breathing a sigh of relief when I saw I was still wearing the same clothes, Dante pushed the door open and glared at me.

"This won't come off" he complained, pointing to his forehead, I burst out laughing again.

"Well it will eventually" I said, between giggling.

"I'm sure it will, however" he said, seeing a pen on the side and grabbing it.

"Hey wait a minute it was a joke" I tried to apologize but he wasn't having any of it.

"So is this" he replied. He backed me against the wall and held my arms above my head with one hand, with the other he wrote something on my forehead despite my wriggling.

"There" he said, stepping back to admire his work.

"What did you write?" I asked angrily.

"See for yourself" he said, gesturing to the mirror on the wall.

"Princess" I read.

"Its not as bad as loser" I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Excuse me" I left the room and went into the bathroom running the tap.

"Any luck?" Dante asked, behind the closed door, I didn't answer just opened the door. He stared at me in surprise.

"It came off easily" I replied, a smug grin on my face.

"How come this won't" he asked, pointing back to his forehead and making me laugh again.

"That's permanent marker" I confirmed.

"You know, I can't go out with this on my head so you'll have to do all my work for me" he said.

"Oh no I won't, just wait till Nero see's it" I left the bathroom, and went down to the office. Dante followed me and took up his usual spot at his desk.

"You look ridiculous" I said, still giggling.

"So was it you who carried me to my room?" I asked, sitting opposite Dante.

"Who did you think it was?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of course it was me"

"But why?" Dante frowned at me.

"because if you had stayed down there you would have probably gotten sick and then I would have have to look after you" he said, picking up his magazine and pretending to read it but I could see his eyes watching me, waiting for a reaction.

"Thank you" I replied, keeping a straight face.

"Your welcome"

We were silent for a few minutes before I felt someone watching me, or rather watching the building we were in.

"Do you feel that?" I asked Dante, he shrugged his shoulders.

"What?" I shook my head, if he didn't feel anything it was probably just my imagination, however I couldn't shake the feeling someone or something was watching us closely.

"I'm going out you wanna come?" Dante suddenly said, standing.

"Where are you going?" I asked, suspiciously, I knew it probably wasn't any place I would want to go.

"Just out for some lunch" he replied.

"Ok but I'm not driving this time, we can walk" Dante frowned, but nodded reluctantly.

"Fine" I ran upstairs and grabbed my bag from my bedroom floor, meeting Dante at the front doors of the office.

"Took your time" he said.

"I was two seconds" I argued, taking the lead. I knew the route from the last time we had been to the diner.

"How can you remember the way, you've only been here once" Dante asked as we approached the diner, I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm very good at remembering directions that's all" I said, matter-of-factly.

"I wonder if you can still remember when your drunk" he said to himself.

"I don't drink, I've never been drunk in my life" I replied, finding a seat and sitting down, the table was right next to the window a great place to make sure we in fact weren't being followed by that demon.

"I'll have to change that" he challenged. The young waitress rolled to our table on her roller-skates and smiled.

"Nice to see you two again, how may I help you?"

"We will have a large pizza and two strawberry sundaes" Dante ordered, I sighed.

"Again? fine I'll have a glass of water please" I said, Dante shook his head.

"Make that two beers" he said.

"Stop doing that!" I complained as the waitress rolled away again.

"Doing what?" he smirked at me.

"That, changing my order."

"I've only done it once" he seemed to be enjoying the fact that he was making me flustered.

"You know you're pretty when you blush" he said, I felt my face warm and I could tell I was blushing deeper.

"Stop it!"

"What don't you like being complimented?" I sighed. I hated feeling this way, I wanted to tell him but at the same time I was terrified of being abandoned or betrayed again, I couldn't handle it.

"Just drop it ok" I whispered, looking down at the table.

"Two beers and your pizza" the waitress returned and placed the glasses and food on the table.

"Thank you" I replied.

"Thanks babe" Dante said, I shook my head.

"I can't drink all of this" I said, staring at the pint glass in front of me frowning.

"Of course you can" Dante replied, downing half of his glass in one.

"I'm not like you, I don't usually drink alcohol at all"

"No time like the present to start, besides its good for you" I frowned, how could it be good for you? It caused so many deadly diseases, not to mention it made people less guarded and that worried me, however I had no idea what I was like drunk, I'd never experienced it so I decided despite my better judgement to try the drink before me.

"Huh, it's not bad" I said.

"See I told you"

By the time I had finished my drink he had eaten all but two pieces of the pizza, which should have fed 15.

"Hurry up or it'll all be gone" he warned.

"I'm not really hungry" I replied.

"You shouldn't drink on an empty stomach, it makes it easier for you to get drunk" he said, this made me change my mind and I ate the last piece.

"Two more please" Dante shouted to the waitress who was sitting at the bar talking to the bartender.

"Coming up" she answered, a few seconds later she rolled up to our table again and delivered two more pint glasses.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" I asked, he smirked.

"You know what don't answer that I can tell by your expression."

After three more rounds, my head felt fuzzy, clouded over.

"You ok?" Dante asked, tilting his head to the left. I nodded slightly leaning my head on my hand.

"Fine" I replied.

"Good, two more over here!" he called to the waitress again, I shook my head.

"No more" I said, if I had anymore I wouldn't be in full control of what I was doing.

"If you say so" Dante said, watching me carefully, a grin appeared on his face as he watched.

"Can you still remember the way home?" he seemed amused, as I shook my head.

"Sorry"

"Good thing I'm not drunk as well or we wouldn't be getting home at all" he said, I frowned.

"I'm not drunk" I argued, even though I knew it wasn't true.

"You are" he stood to leave, but I stayed where I was.

"You coming?" he asked, holding his hand out, I took it without hesitation, but tripped on the table leg.

"Sorry" I said, Dante caught me and held me up, grinning.

"Come on princess" he said, shaking his head. He led me out of the diner, closing the door behind us.

"This way" he said, putting his arm around my shoulders, I leant on him as we walked.

"Thanks for taking me out" I said, after five minutes of walking.

"No problem, my pleasure" he answered. It started raining as we walked.

"Lets wait here for the rain to stop" Dante said, dragging me into a doorway.

"You sure?" I asked, the doorway was tiny. It was very close quarters, I blushed at how close we were standing but it didn't seem to bother Dante at all.

"What's wrong? Your face is red" he asked, smirking.

"N nothing" beyond the doorway the rain tumbled down, causing a curtain to form between us and the rest of the world. Dante put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer, as I shivered.

"Don't catch cold" he said.

"Why are you so kind to me?" I asked, staring up into his blue eyes, he smiled, but he didn't answer, just leaned down so our noses touched, by now my face was redder than his coat.

"D Dante I..." he smiled at my expression, which was somewhere between surprised and happy.

"I think you know why" he said, finally answering my question, before kissing me.

"Dante I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid" I looked down.

"Tell me" he said, lifting my face back up to his.

"it's just that I...err I" I just couldn't say it, I was terrified by the thought of being that open with him, knowing what had happened the last time I had told someone, how I felt.

"Its ok you can tell me"

"I think I might..." I tried to drop my face again but he held it were it was so instead I closed my eyes.

"I love you" I whispered, hoping he hadn't heard me but when I opened my eyes, he caught me off guard and kissed me again.

"Say it again, I didn't quite hear you" he said, grinning, I shook my head, but his smile just grew.

"I knew it I shouldn't have said anything" I said, suddenly really angry with myself, I tried to escape from his grip but it just tightened.

"Kayla" he held my face between his hands.

"Calm down"

"I love you" he whispered in my ear, at first I didn't believe a word of it, but seeing his expression and the way he held me gently, I knew it was true.

"I don't believe it" I whispered back.

"Believe me, I do" he reassured.

For the first time in ages I felt truly happy, all of my worries were gone. I grinned, throwing my arms around his neck, I heard him laugh and hug me tightly, lifting me off the ground.

"I love you" I said again, as he put me down, but I wasn't ready to let go, I just kept my arms around his neck, he shook his head and sighed.

"It's stopped raining" he said, looking outside.

"I don't care" I answered. I stood up on the tips of my toes and kissed him, tightening my arms around his neck.


	34. it's over?

_Last one for this story, stay tuned for more on the way, that is when I decide what to write next XD_

The feeling of happiness lasted until the next morning, when I accompanied Dante on a mission, however we got separated on the way home, due to my lost sense of direction. I walked slowly through empty streets, but I stopped seeing a figure up ahead.

Dante stood before me, only this wasn't the Dante I knew. This man's eyes where black and had a demonic glow, clouded over with evil intent.

"Kayla, so nice to see you again" the man said, in Dante's voice.

"Who are you?" I asked, my hand on the hilt of my sword, the man laughed.

"Dante" he said, I shook my head and unsheathed my sword.

"No you're not, I'm willing to bet you're not even human" I said, pointing the blade at him, he laughed again.

"Seems you've seen through my deception filter, little girl well done indeed."

"Deception filters?" The man nodded.

"I am a demon of deception, when you look at me you see the person you care about most in the world." I stepped back in shock.

"I've been seeing my sister all this time that was you?" the demon smiled and took a bow.

"Yes indeed it was, an excellent illusion don't you agree?"

"But why am I not seeing my twin now?" I was talking to myself but the demon felt the need to answer me.

"You care about him more than your sister now, she's safe in the palace. You want to protect him, I can see into your heart. You can't lie to me" he stepped forward, so the end of my blade rested against his chest.

"I should kill you, but I want to know why you were doing this first"

"I was asked to..Keep an eye on you, by someone you know very well, he said that if I could kill you and bring your body back I would be greatly rewarded"

"He?, who sent you?" I asked this even though I had a pretty good idea who it was.

"your old love, Christian, he's the one who wants you dead, he also is the one who turned the whole city against you and tried to turn your sister against you as well." My heartbeat rose at mention of his name in anger.

"It was him, I'll kill him" I said, gripping my sword tighter.

"But first I'll kill you, mister illusionist" the demon grinned and jumped back out of my reach.

"That won't help you, I don't need to touch you to kill you" I said, holding my sword above my head I swung it down and released a wave of dark energy at him, the demon however dodged easily.

"Careful, I haven't finished talking yet" the demon hissed at me.

"My name is Crow. And to make sure you didn't try to run, I bought someone to see you" the demon waved his hand and a light flashed behind him.

"How nice of you to join us princess" the demon said, bowing to the woman behind, I gasped.

"Kate" I whispered.

"Let her go!" I yelled.

"She's free" the demon said, grinning.

"What!, Kate come here" my sister didn't move.

"I can't" she answered, shaking her head sadly.

"But why?" before she could answer my question Christian appeared beside her, out of the same light as her.

"Hello, princess" he said to me, the demon bowed to him.

"My lord, welcome. I have everything under control" he said, Christian nodded.

"I know, but I wanted to be the one to do this" he took his pistol from his belt and held it against my sister s head.

"If you touch that trigger I'll kill you" I warned, unsheathing my sword.

"Careful, I'll kill her before you get close. And don't even think about using that energy thing of yours because the same outcome will happen" I began to shake, tears filling my eyes. But more than that I felt anger, no rage filling my heart my senses became heightened. My thoughts silenced, until only those that led to the death of both of the men before me remained.

"don't test me" I warned, my eyes held a demonic glow, as I spoke slowly, Christian smiled, and pulled the trigger, my sister's screams echoed in my ears, but before her lifeless body hit the ground I had Christian pinned against the wall, my sword at his throat.

"Goodbye" I whispered, he stared into my eyes, terror clearly held him frozen.

"Fear not the reaper, but the demon who calls him here" I whispered, his eyes widened and I smiled, giving myself over to my demon side completely.

"Crow, save me" Christian pleaded, but the demon didn't move, he too was frozen not by fear but by amazement.

"Fear not the reaper" I whispered again, before driving my sword through his stomach, he screamed briefly before falling lifeless to the ground.

"I commend you for waiting your turn Mister Crow" I said, turning to the demon, who tilted his head and smiled.

"Glad I..." before he finished I had knocked him to the ground and pinned him down.

"Your fast" he said, under my blade.

"Any last words?" I asked, the demon shook his head.

"Then when you get back to hell, tell them of me. Tell them to leave this city alone" I said, the demon laughed.

"That will never happen" as I drove my sword through him, he didn't scream like I expected, it was strange really but something at this point I couldn't care less about.

"What are you doing out here?" a voice, I recognised it but I couldn't place the face, my instincts took over and I found the target, a figure walked towards me, I didn't see the face. If I had looked I would have known him anywhere. That silver hair, those blue eyes, he was unmistable. But instead I saw only another enemy to be destroyed and I let go. My sword, pierced his skin, but yet again, I heard no screams.

"Kayla, what's going on?" he spoke again, but he could see I was no longer the person I was before, I felt his arms around me, despite my sword being through his chest he didn't hesitate to hold me closer.

"Kayla come back" he whispered in my ear.

And as if those words had some kind of magical power, I snapped back to reality, all of the murderous intention and anger melted like ice cream under the summer sun. But as soon as those emotions faded and I realised what I had done, I broke down in tears, unable to make them stop. Fell to my knees before Dante feeling totally and utterly in despair, I heard the clang of metal on the floor as Dante dropped my sword and knelt down to my level.

"Kayla, what happened?" he looked past me to the demon lying dead behind me, he glanced at Christian against the wall and smiled slightly, but that soon faded when he saw the lifeless body of my twin sister.

"Oh Kayla I'm so sorry" he whispered, I looked up into his eyes and shook my head.

"It's my fault" I whispered through my tears.

"no its not" he argued, he took my hand and helped me to stand, but once I was on my feet all I wanted to do was run, I wanted to leave to get away and never come back. But I couldn't, instead my heart led me to my sister, who still looked as lovely in death as she did in life.

"Oh Katherine, my sister, I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen. Forgive me" I whispered, kneeling down to her.

"You can't blame yourself" Dante said from behind me.

"What do you know!" I shouted at him, he blinked in surprise but his concerned expression never faltered once.

"I'm sorry" I whispered, to him, he nodded. As I sat there it started raining, my tears mingled with the rain.

"I couldn't do anything to save her" I whispered, shaking my head, I looked down at my shaking hands, that where still covered in blood none of it my own.

"Let me take you home" Dante said, resting his hand on my shoulder.

"I can't leave her" my voice was barely above the sound of the rain, but he heard it.

"It's over" he said, I turned to him, tears still falling. The expression on his face told me everything, he couldn't stand to see me like this, he wanted to help me but didn't know how other than to take me out of the rain, I nodded.

"Take me home" I whispered, standing. He lifted me into his arms and ran through the rain to the office just a few streets away.

"I'm sorry" he said again as he placed me on the porch and unlocked the door, letting me in first. I didn't speak, I couldn't I felt like I was drained both emotionally and physically. I sat on the sofa just staring at the jukebox until Dante turned it on making me jump.

"What song is this?"I asked him, quietly it was the only thing that I could say, any talk of what had just happened and I would break down again.

"In the arms of the angel" he answered, shaking his head.

"Patty put it on there" he sat next to me and put his arm around m shoulders.

"I thought it would be better than heavy metal" he said, but his usual smile and carefree nature were nowhere to be found, he was serious and it made me worry about him, despite my own grief.

"Don't worry, I won't speak about anything that happened unless you want to" Dante reassured, I breathed sigh of relief and nodded, relaxing slightly.

"I lost my family, when it was raining" he said, suddenly.

"I know, you told me, guess we aren't so different anymore"

"No we are, your taking it a lot better than I did"

"You think so?" he nodded.

"It's only because I have you here" I could feel my eyes closing as I sat there, I was so tired and drained in more way than one.

"Sleep, I'll be here when you wake up" Dante said, I nodded and lay my head on his lap closing my eyes, hoping my sleep would be peaceful, but knowing it couldn't possibly be after all that had happened.


	35. valentines special

"February 14th, oh no" I complained staring at the date on my phone. Valentines day, the day when every love obsessed moron with money spends all they have and ends up wishing they hadn't bothered. And why did I hate valentines so much?, probably because I was single and have been every single valentines since I was born.

"morning" Dante greeted me as I entered the kitchen.

"yeah I suppose" I answered, stomping over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of milk.

"wow someones not a morning person" he said, from the dining table. I poured and glass of milk and leant against the sink drinking it.

"no. just this morning in particular" I answered, annoyed. Dante just shrugged and stood from the table.

"so its valentines you don't like then" he said, I nodded.

"really, why?" I knew he was trying to anger me so I held back and kept an emotionless face.

"because I'm single that's why" I said frankly.

"so am I"

"yeah but you're a guy it doesn't matter to you, right?" my straight face began to crack.

"I guess, why does it bother you so much?" I threw the glass in the sink, a little too hard maybe because it smashed.

"damnit!" I yelled making Dante jump. He sighed and pushed me aside.

"allow me" he said, cleaning the broken glass up.

"it matters because…it just does ok" I stomped off and into my room slamming the door behind me. Leaving Dante staring after me, dumbfounded. I brushed my hair as I cooled off and changed my clothes into something more comfortable, since I would probably spend all day lounging around the office doing nothing except sulk and get annoyed by Dante.

"hey, Kayla you in there?" Dante asked, knocking my door loudly.

"yeah, what!" I yelled not moving from the bed.

"I wondered, if you were going to lighten up anytime today" he opened the door and leant on the door frame.

"not till tomorrow" I said, sulking.

"what if we spent valentines day together" he said, entering my room.

"what you mean like, together together"

"I don't understand why girls think that by saying it twice it has some other meaning. And yes I mean together" I blushed, turning away.

"you mean like a date?" I asked, quietly.

"yes, a d a t e" he said, spelling out the last word.

"shall we" he crossed his ankles and bowed, offering me his hand.

"well I, erm, I mean, I don't want to force you"

"you really think you could force me to do anything, come on what do you say?" I thought about it for a while before deciding it might be fun.

"ok, where are we going?" I stood from the bed and smiled at him.

"first you need to change, I will too ok" I sighed.

"is it necessary to dress up?"

"yes, it is a date after all" I blushed at the word date. How is it that I'd never been on one before, and why was so nervous about going with Dante we were friends after all.

"alright, give me ten minutes"

"that long it'll take me five" he said leaving the room again.

"you'd better look smart" I shouted down the hallway as I closed the door.

"now what to wear" I turned to face my dresser and opened the top drawer. I riffled through until I found a short, dark red dress with three quarter length sleeves. It ended just above my knees so it was short enough but not too short, while all the time not being too long either.

"perfect" I grinned, and placed it on the bed, I retrieved some jewellery from my bag, and placed that on the bed as well.

After changing into outfit, I adjusted the choker around my neck, placed the cross bracelt on the wrist and smoothed down my hair.

"well, guess I'm ready" I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. I realised I was actually excited about this and that scared me, I mean we where just friends. Right?. Only friends.

"yes, friends" I said, shaking my head to clear the doubts. As I left my room, I could hear Dante pacing downstairs, his boots making a lot of noise.

"he'd better look smart" I said to myself, but I couldn't imagine him even owning anything remotely shoes made more noise going down the stairs than my boots would have, I could see the lights from the office.

"about time, you took…" Dante trailed off, he was staring at me which made me blush and fidget.

"you look, beautiful" he finally said. I had been wrong about what Dante would wear he was dressed smartly with, a black shirt and red tie, and dark red trousers.

"you look handsome" I answered, nodding.

"thanks, shall we?" he offered me his arm and led me out to my car.

"wait a minute I'm driving!" I said, in disbelief.

"no I'll drive I just thought your car would be more appropriate, it looks better"

"right, or maybe you just don't want anyone to recognise your car and now your out with me" I was beginingg to think this was a bad idea.

"no. why would I not want people to see that I'm with a beautiful girl like you?" I blushed and sighed.

"fine, but if you scratch it, your paying to get it fixed" I warmed, getting into the passenger seat.

"alright" after ten minutes of driving in silence I broke it.

"where are we going?" I asked, he turned and winked at me.

"it's a surprise"

"keep your eyes on the road!" I shouted as we narrowly missed an oncoming car.

"how can I, your distracting me" he said smirking.

"just don't kill us"

"I thought you were broke anyway?" I thought maybe he had some money considering he had asked me out, but I was wrong.

"I am broke"

"so let me get this straight, not only are you using _my _car but you exspect _me to pay for this date aswell?" _

"_sorry, I know I'm not much of a gentleman right now, I'll pay you back I promise" he winked at me, smirking. I sighed making sure I had brought my credit card with me._

"_could job I have this" I said waving the silver card at about twenty minutes we stopped outside an expensive looking restaurant._

"_wow, not bad. Can you afford to eat here?" I asked him, smirking._

"_I can if you pay" he grinned, and offered me his arm again leading me through the doors and to the host._

"_table for two please" Dante said to the young, blonde boy before us. He didn't look older than 18, the boy nodded and looked at his book._

"_this way please sir" the boy said politely. He led us through the restaurant and to a booth at the back._

"_thank you" I said as we sat down._

"_well this place is fancy, ive never been called sir before" Dante said, grinning and looking around the place, it was full of people all talking and having a good time._

"_what would you like?" the waiter asked, making me jump, I hadn't noticed him walking toward our table._

"_I'll have pizza" Dante said and I sighed, hitting my head with my hand._

"_we don't sell pizza here sir" the waiter answered, looking confused._

"_what?, oh fine then I'll have steak" Dante folded his arms sulking at the lack of pizza._

"_and you madam?" _

"_I'll have the chicken please."_

"_and what would you like to drink?" the waiter asked scribbling in his notebook._

"_red wine please" I answered._

"_I'll have a beer" Dante said still sulking._

"_ok" _

_The waiter left and Dante was still sulking, I looked through the menu noticing something that would make Dante happy._

"_hey they have strawberry sundaes here" I said, pointing to a picture in the menu, at the sound of this Dante's face cheered up and he unfolded his arms._

"_here are your drinks, sir. Madam" the waiter returned with our drinks than disappeared again._

"_I could get used to being called sir" Dante laughed._

"_really?, being called madam makes me feel old" I complained,sipping my drink._

"_any good?" Dante asked, I nodded._

"_very good" I answered._

"_here are your meals. Sir. Madam" the waiter returned, but as he turned to leave Dante stopped him._

"_hey, can you stop calling her madam she doesn't like,can you call her young lady instead" he said, I blushed when the waiter looked at me._

"_sorry, young lady" the waiter said, before almost running from the table._

"_what the hell was that?" I asked still blushing, but I was stiffling laughter from the waiters reaction._

"_I was sticcking up for you" he said triumphantly. I burst out laughing, and leant my head on the table._

"_oh right" I said between fits of laughter, Dante laughed too which made me laugh enough more."I cant breath" I complained, giggling._

"_its good to see you having a laugh for once, you've always been so serious since I met you" Dante said, when I finally stopped laughing._

"_really, I hadn't noticed. Have I really been that serious?" he nodded._

"_sorry, but I am having a good time, now." I said grinning and taking a bite of my meal._

"_mmm this is delicious" I said, a little too loudly because the couple on the table next to us looked and started whispering to each other._

"_mine too" Dante said, matching my volume and annoying our neghbours even more. I giggled at their annoyed looks and angry whispering. After we had finished eating, and Dante had scarfed down what seemed to be his body weight in strawberry ice cream, the waiter took our plates, but wouldn't look either of us in the eye._

"_looks like you really scared that kid" I said giggling._

"_you think?" he leant back in his chair and watched me finish my drink._

"_well what do you want to do now?" he asked, smirking._

"_not what your thinking" I said, he smiled at me innocently._

"_what did you think I was thinking?" he asked._

"_oh no I'm not answering that" I answered._

"_can we have the bill please?" I asked the nearest waiter who passed us._

"_certainly" he answered, disappearing into the kitchens and returning with a small silver plate with a bill on it._

"_that's expensive" I said my eyes widening._

"_really?, sorry" Dante said scratching the back of his head, I shook my head._

"_don't worry its ok" I said placing my card on the silver plate. After paying, we left the restaurant and it was dark outside already._

"_huh we were out along time" I said, surprised at how quick the time had gone, Dante nodded and offered me his arm again._

"_so where to, mi'lady" he said, faking a british accent, very badly._

"_how about, home" I said, yawning._

"_really?, how about another place for a drink" Dante asked hopefully._

"_ok, fine but if you get drunk I'm not carrying you to the car" I said as we got in and drove down the street. We stopped outside a bar that looked old and falling down outside._

"_here?" I asked._

"_yeah, I always drink here" Dante replied acting offended, I shrugged and walked into the bar._

"_hey Dante, welcome back again" the bar tender said as we entered, Dante smiled at him as we sat at the bar, the rest of the bar was empty._

"_so whos the beautiful young lady?" the barman asked Dante smiling at me._

"_I'm Kayla, nice to meet you" I answered for him, before Dante went and called me his cleaner or something to that effect. The barman smiled and nodded._

"_so what would you like Miss Kayla" he asked, drying a glass with a towell._

"_erm I'll have…."_

"_why don't you try a beer?" Dante asked me, grinning._

"_ok, yeah I'll have a beer" I replied, smiling at the bartender. The man returned a few minutes later with two pints of beer and placed them on the bar in front of us._

"_you'll like it trust me" Dante said seeing the hesitant look on my face._

"_if you say so" I answered, sipping the drink._

"_your right, this is good" I said, smiling. Dante nearly downed his drink in one, however it took me a little longer to drink it. After three drinks, I was feeling quite light headed and drunk. However I still new when to stop._

"_no more for me thanks" I said to Dante who was know on his seventh drink._

"_lets get you home" I said, Dante grinned at me and threw his arm around my shoulders._

"_yes please" he said, smirking at me._

"_your drunk arent you" I said, sighing. I managed to drag him to the car and he fell into the passenger seat and supposedly fell asleep. I drove the car back to the office, and stopped outside._

"_wake up!" I yelled at Dante, and he jumped, opening his eyes and smirking at me._

"_come on we're home" I said, leaving the passenger door open and walking away. I entered the office and turned round to hold the door open for Dante who stumbled in after a while._

"_thanks for dinner" he said, grinning at me and leaning on my shoulder._

"_you need to sleep this off" I said, trying to move away but he put his arm around my waist keeping me there. I let the door swing shut behind us and it banged when it closed, I jumped but Dante didn't budge he just stood staring at me with a goofy grin on his face._

"_come on you need to sleep" I said, leading him to the staircase, but when we passed the sofa he fell down onto it seemingly on purpose and pulled me down with him._

"_you know you're a very beautiful woman Kayla" he said leaning closer to me, I leaned away but his arm pulled me back._

"_so you said, lets continue this when your less drunk" I said, blushing and pulling away._

"_come one, we're both adults" he said, his nose brushed mine and he held my head there in his hands, I swallowed hard blushing furiously and staring into his eyes._

"_we are on a date" he said, softly._

"_were" I corrected but he didn't hear me, my voice was quiet even I had trouble hearing it. I gazed into his blue eyes and realised I was staring which made me look down, but his hand cupped my chin and lifted it back up to his eyes._

"_D..Dante, lets stop this now, your obviously not thinking straight" I said quickly trying to stop him but he wasn't going to move that was clear. _

"_C..come on D…." I started but I was cut off when he kissed me, my eyes widened in surpsise. He pulled away and smiled soflty at me._

"_Stop this" he said seriously. He leaned forward again, but I pulled away escaping his grip finally._

"_I'm going to bed" I said my voice shaking._

"_if you follow me I'll…." I trailed off._

"_you'll what?" he asked seriously, I turned and ran upstairs and into my room, I flicked the lock and fell onto my bed._

"_what was that?" I asked myself, touching my lips and remembering the kiss._

"_he was drunk" I said to myself trying to convince myself that he didn't know what he was doing._


End file.
